Christmas has come early in Venezuela, at least for the country’s embattled president Nicolás Maduro.
Maduro, who is at the centre of a widely contested election, announced on Monday he would move Christmas to Oct. 1.
“It’s September, and it already smells like Christmas,” he said during his weekly TV show, More with Maduro. “That’s why this year, as a way of paying tribute to you all, and in gratitude to you all, I’m going to decree an early Christmas for Oct. 1.”
“Christmas arrived for everyone, in peace, joy and security!” Maduro declared.
The premature holiday has been perceived by many Venezuelans as an attempt to win public favour and mask economic collapse amid political unrest in the country.
“Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy, family reunions, parties, presents,” José Ernesto Ruiz, a 57-year-old office worker, told the Associated Press. “Without money and with this political crisis, who can believe that there will be an early Christmas?”
More than five weeks ago, Maduro’s governing party claimed to have won Venezuela’s presidential election. The country’s electoral council did not share a breakdown of the election results.
Venezuela’s Supreme Court has supported Maduro’s claim that he won the presidential election. The country’s most prominent opposition party, as well as the United Nations and the NGO the Carter Center, have disputed the results.
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Presidential candidate Edmundo González and his party have shared electronic copies of their own electoral results and said the proper vote tallies declared González the presidential winner.
Only hours before his festive announcement, Maduro issued an arrest warrant for González over accusations of conspiracy, falsifying documents and usurpation of powers.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby opposed Maduro’s arrest warrant for González on Tuesday.
“This is just another example of Mr. Maduro’s efforts to maintain power by force and to refuse to recognize that Mr. Gonzalez won the most votes on the 28th of July,” Kirby said. “We’re considering a range of options to demonstrate to Mr. Maduro and his representatives that their actions in Venezuela will have consequences.”
On Monday, the U.S. Justice Department said it seized Maduro’s luxury jet over claims it was illegally purchased through a shell company and smuggled out of the U.S. in violation of sanctions and export control laws.
Maduro’s critics, both domestic and international, have accused the leader of repressing dissent in Venezuela.
Since the election in July, Maduro has reportedly jailed more than 2,000 protestors and promised to send them to maximum-security to serve 30-year sentences. Several journalists have also been deported from Venezuela, according to the country’s reporter’s union.
This is not the first time Maduro has moved Christmas. In 2021, as Venezuela struggled with the COVID-19 pandemic, Maduro decreed that Christmas would start on Oct. 4. Last year, he told Venezuelans to celebrate Christmas on Nov. 1.
Maduro has been in power since 2013.
— with files from the Associated Press
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