HAVANA – Cuban authorities Friday blamed driver error for the car crash that killed a prominent island dissident, saying the Spanish man behind the wheel was speeding and braked too quickly upon entering an unpaved construction zone, causing the vehicle to careen out of control.

An Interior Ministry statement said Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero, another, lesser-known dissident who died in the July 22 crash, were not wearing seatbelts and were in the vehicle’s rear, which sustained the brunt of the impact when the car hit a tree at high speed.

Still photographs showed a blue subcompact Hyundai Accent with rental car plates, its rear half crumpled. Driver Angel Carromero and Swedish citizen Jens Aron Modig, who were riding up front, suffered only minor injuries.