Spaniard jailed in Cuba flies home to finish term

Angel Carromero Barrios, a Spanish regional political youth leader, lost control of his car and crashed on July 22, killing passengers Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero. Paya was a well-known opponent of the Cuban government and Cepero was also a dissident.

Carromero flew into Madrid's Barajas international airport with a police escort alongside Miguel Vives, another Spanish citizen sentenced to 18 years prison in Cuba for drug trafficking.

The governments of Cuba and Spain applied a bilateral accord dating from 1998 which allows for the enforcement of each other's criminal judgments.

A spokesman for Spanish penitentiaries said Carromero was taken into custody on arrival and would be driven to Segovia jail, 110 kilometers (68 miles) northwest of Madrid to serve the remainder of his sentence. He spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with Interior Ministry rules.

Aron Modig, a Swede who was also riding in the car at the time of the crash and who, along with Carromero, was accused by Granma of getting involved in political activities while visiting Cuba on tourist visas, said he was relieved that his Spanish colleague had returned to Spain.