A mayor's welcome for Chavez in London

Hugo Chavez. Picture / Reuters

LONDON - Mayor Ken Livingstone yesterday said he was "proud to welcome" Venezuela's outspoken President Hugo Chavez as he headed to London for a two-day "private" visit.

Livingstone dismissed criticism by human rights groups of the leader and said Chavez, who was heading to Britain after being publicly admonished by Prime Minister Tony Blair, was "the best news out of Latin America in many years".

Chavez had "brought real democracy and real progress" to Venezuela, he said.

The Venezuelan leader, an admirer of Cuba's Fidel Castro, is on much less cordial terms with Blair, whom he calls "the main ally of Hitler" for his support of President George W. Bush.

During the European Union-Latin America summit in Vienna last week, Blair warned Chavez and his left-wing Latin American ally, Bolivian President Evo Morales, to "behave sensibly" as they took more control of their countries' energy sectors.

Chavez has met Blair on visits to London and had an audience with the Queen, but he now regards New Labour economics with disdain.

"Neo-liberalism has begun its decline and has come to an end," he said, adding that "a new era has begun in Latin America".

The former soldier has not requested meetings with ministers in London during what Downing St describes as a private visit. Instead he will meet left-wing Labour MPs and trade union leaders, and speak at a meeting hosted by Livingstone.

Chavez and Morales were the centre of attention in Vienna where Chavez called America's foreign policy "as doomed as a pig on its way to the slaughterhouse".

Addressing a rally with the daughter of the revolutionary Che Guevara, he criticised US involvement in Iraq.

"I am sure that this century will see the end of American imperialism," he said. "For every pig the day arrives for slaughter. For the pig of American imperialism, that time has come."

An icon of the anti-globalisation movement, Chavez is taken seriously because of his country's vast oil resources.

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