Dissident's death sparks criticism in Cuba and Spain

From  GMT

Havana/Madrid - Jailed Cuban dissident Wilmar Villar Mendoza died overnight while on hunger strike, according to opposition sources who on Friday accused the regime of carrying out a 'political killing.'
The 31-year-old was detained on November 14, after taking part in an anti-government rally. He went on hunger strike on November 24, after being sentenced to four years in jail on charges including 'contempt and resistance to the authorities.'
Villar's death has been confirmed by his wife, Maritza Pelegrino, said the Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN), an umbrella organization of dissident groups, as well as by award-winning dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez.
Villar died on Thursday at a hospital in Santiago de Cuba, in the east of the island. He had suffered from pneumonia while in prison and had been taken to hospital after his health deteriorated.
According to the Diario de Cuba website, the hospital was surrounded by soldiers. Several people were detained.
The Cuban government made no official statement.
Members of the Cuban opposition accused the regime of carrying out a 'political killing' in reports carried by Spanish media.
Villar's death follows that of another dissident, Orlando Zapata, who died in February 2010 after a long hunger strike.
Cuban authorities insist that there are no political prisoners on the Communist island, and that everyone in jail there has violated the country's laws. According to human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, there are scores of political prisoners in Cuba, although many have been released in recent months.
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 town 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.
The Spanish government on Friday called on Cuba to release political prisoners. Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria expressed 'consternation and condolences' after Villar's 'tragic' death.
'We shall work with the European Union so that there will be a horizon of democracy in Cuba,' Saenz de Santamaria said.
A US State Department spokesman said Villar's death 'underscores' the urgent need for 'greater international scrutiny of Cuba's human rights record.'
The US also urged Cuba to allow the United Nations' special rapporteur or the International Red Cross to have access to its jails.
Antonio Guedes, president of the opposition group Cuban Liberal Union, urged new 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