LEAD: Dissident's death sparks protests in Cuba and Spain

Jan 20, 2012, 11:46 GMT

Havana/Madrid - Jailed Cuban dissident Wilmar Villar Mendoza died overnight while on hunger strike, according to opposition sources who Friday accused the regime of carrying out a 'political killing.'

The 31-year-old who went on a hunger strike following his detention on November 14 was serving a four-year sentence on charges including disobeying the authorities.

Villar's death has been confirmed by his wife Maritza Pelegrino, the Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN), and blogger Yoani Sanchez.

Spanish media reported that Villar died on Thursday at a hospital in Santiago de Cuba, in the east of the island. He been taken there from prison after his health deteriorated. According to the Diario de Cuba website, the hospital was surrounded by soldiers and several people were detained.

Members of the Cuban opposition accused the regime of carrying out a 'political killing,' in Spanish media reports.

Villar's death follows that of another dissident, Orlando Zapata, who died in February after a long hunger strike.

Villar, a father of two daughters, belonged to a group called the Cuban Patriotic Union, according to CCDHRN spokesman Elizardo Sanchez.

He was detained during a peaceful demonstration for human rights, Berta Soler, spokeswoman for the opposition group Ladies in White, told the Spanish daily El Pais. The demonstration took place in the eastern locality of Contramaestre, where Villar lived.

The prison authorities had been slow to provide Villar with adequate medical care, the Madrid-based internet publication Diario de Cuba reported.

Pelegrino told Diario de Cuba that police had promised to release her sick husband on condition that she dropped her own opposition activities.

Villar had been 'assassinated' for 'protesting and defending human rights,' Soler was quoted by Spanish media as saying.

Cuban opposition members in Spain have called a demonstration at the Cuban embassy.

Spain's governing conservative People's Party (PP) condemned the 'absolutely intolerable' circumstances of Villar's death, accusing Havana of 'oppression' of dissidents. 'Spain and the European Union cannot turn their backs to what is happening in Cuba,' PP legislator Teofilo de Luis said.

Antonio Guedes, president of the opposition group Cuban Liberal Union, urged Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to take a 'more energetic' stance towards Cuba than that of the previous Socialist government, which was ousted in the November elections.

Apparent changes in Cuba 'are not real,' Guedes said.