Maduro Declares Christmas in October in Venezuela
Category: News & Politics
Via: john-russell • 4 months ago • 1 commentsBy: Julie Turkewitz (nytimes)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
With the nation's democracy in shambles, President Nicolas Maduro tries to inject some holiday cheer.
Reporting from Bogota, Colombia.
Sept. 3, 2024Updated 5:03 p.m. ETLeer en espanol
A nationwide blackout. A broken economy. A widely contested presidential election. A populace terrified of its autocratic leader and his increasingly violent security forces.
What's a president to do?
Declare the early arrival of Christmas, of course.
Facing widespread domestic and international criticism over his claim that he won a July presidential vote, President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela is trying to turn the nation's attention toward the one thing almost every Venezuelan loves: Christmas.
The holiday season will begin on Oct. 1 this year, he announced Monday on his television show"More with Maduro," telling a friendly audience that he was moving up the start of the holiday by way of a national decree.
"Smells like Christmas!" he told the crowd, which included his wife and several top officials. They responded with cheers and applause. The season would begin, he said "with peace, happiness and security."
This is not the first time that Mr. Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, has begun the holiday season so early.
But the announcement, coming amid so much national turmoil, only underscoredthe widening chasm between the government's assertion that Venezuela is flourishing and the reality on the ground. One journalist for Univision, Felix de Bedout, called it part of the "dictator's delirium."
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