• Submitted by: admin
• Politics and Government
• 11 / 08 / 2006

According to a report published today by The Independent daily, the Mayor of London also accused President Bush of being elected in a " judicial coup d'état" and attacked the White House for pursuing "economic war" against the Communist state of Cuba.

Livingstone was presented with the key to Havana by his equal, Jose Contino on the first leg of a Latin American tour.

The London mayor said: "What's amazing here is you've got a country that's suffered an illegal economic blockade by the United States for almost half a century and yet it's been able to give its people the best standard of health care, brilliant education. To do this in the teeth of an almost economic war I think is a tribute to Fidel Castro and his government."

Referring to Cuban sports achievements, Livingstone said "though Cuba's only got a fifth of the population of Britain, it gets as many medals in the Olympics as we do. So clearly they're doing something right here about engaging their young people in sport, and that's what I'm really interested in finding out about."

Livingstone attended the World Congress of Sports for All held in Havana last week and had a chance to attend a cricket match in the Cuban capital.

The Mayor of London left Havana on Sunday after canceling his visit to Venezuela due to Chavez's election campaign commitments. Both Venezuelan official sources and Livinstone's office in London explained the agreement on petroleum to be signed by the Mayor and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez was still standing.

Source: Prensa Latina