THE Mayor of one of Oxford’s twin cities has pulled out of a meeting just hours before he was due to meet the Lord Mayor at the Town Hall.

The city council was due to host a special meeting of the Oxford Leon Association tonight.

It celebrates links between Oxford and the second city of Nicaragua, Leon.

But due to alleged human rights abuses inflicted in the country, the city council had requested the ambassador of Nicaragua to the UK did not attend.

It left an invitation open to Roger Gurdian, the Mayor of Leon, in the hope he would meet Oxford’s Lord Mayor, Colin Cook.

But this afternoon the event was cancelled after it was made clear neither Dr Gurdian or the ambassador would visit .

John Tanner, the chairman of the Oxford Leon Association and current city councillor, said: “We are disappointed that the Mayor of Leon has withdrawn from a planned meeting of the Oxford Leon Association and as a result the meeting has been cancelled.

“Oxford City Council had communicated its position that it was not appropriate that the ambassador of Nicaragua should attend given recent events in Nicaragua. As a consequence, the Leon Mayor, Roger Gurdian, has also pulled out.

“The Oxford Leon Association will continue to do what we can to help poor people in Leon and to build friendships between the citizens of Leon and Oxford where we can. But this is a significant setback for the 30-year twinning link between our two university cities.”

Hilary Francis, an historian of Nicaragua at Northumbria University, had called for the council to withdraw the offer of hospitality at the weekend.

She said: “We are delighted that the event has been cancelled, but disappointed that this isn’t the result of a decision by Oxford City Council.

“In our emails to council leaders we made it very clear that we recognised the charity work done by the Oxford Leon Association in the past, but we urged them to recognise that circumstances have changed drastically in Nicaragua.”

Dr Francis added: “It is not appropriate to channel aid via a municipal government that is responsible for killing its own people. Councillor Tanner’s response today makes it very clear that Oxford City Council still hasn’t accepted that obvious fact.”