Press Release

Chavez opponent withdraws legal case against Mayor
7-7-2006   359

Aleksander Boyd, a supporter of the opposition to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, has withdrawn his defamation case against the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, after being presented with Mr Livingstone's defence case.

Mr Boyd had claimed that the Mayor had defamed him at Mayor's Question Time on May 17, when he stated that Boyd was a 'supporter of terrorism against Venezuelan democracy.'

The Mayor's statement was based on statements by Aleksander Boyd on his own website, such as: 'Yesterday I had a conversation with someone about Venezuela and its problems. Given the peculiar characteristics of our crisis, my interlocutor asked "what's the solution then?". And I replied: "when elected politicians treat one as an animal, how on earth can be expected that one behaves like a gentleman? The solution in my view is clear and simple: violence.'

He also wrote: 'the other question that daunts me is, how can democracy be protected from itself? What mechanisms has the layman to simply kick out of office pariahs such as Chavez? The answer is none, and since there is no democratic mechanisms in place, violence is the only recourse left.'

Mr Boyd has also described the writer Tariq Ali as 'that Paki journalist'.

He said of President Chavez and his supporters: 'only barbaric practices will neutralise them, much the same way as Khan did. I wish I was him.'

The Mayor also pointed to comments by Mr Boyd in which he stated:

'When I read the comments of CNE's Francisco Carrasquero or the rulings of "top magistrate" Ivan Rincon Urdaneta [all supporters of the Chavez administration] I wish I was Genghis Khan. I wish I was Khan and order my hordes to capture them and pour melted silver into their eyes.'

Ken Livingstone's comments were made after Conservative members of the Assembly had invited Mr Boyd, an advocate of terrorism in Venezuela, to meet them at  City Hall during the visit of President Chavez to the building.

Today Mr Livingstone said: 'Supporters of the Venezuelan opposition like Aleksander Boyd, who have lost all elections in Venezuela, advocate terrorism against Venezuela's democratically elected government. In other words they advocate illegal violence to deny the people of Venezuela the right to elect their own government.

'I will now be writing to the Conservative Group in the London Assembly to demand that they dissociate themselves from Mr Boyd and other advocates of terrorism in Venezuela.

'I will also be asking the Times and other media organisations which have given Mr Boyd a platform to dissociate themselves from his views.'

Notes to Editors

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Related Press Releases

Statement on legal proceedings against the Mayor by Mr Aleksander Boyd
Details of President Hugo Chávez visit to London

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