WATCH: Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro moves Christmas to 1 October
Venezuela's festive season is incoming... (because food, medicine, money, etc is not).
Nicolás Maduro, President of Venezuela / Wikimedia Commons: Joka Madruga
Clarence Ford speaks to Barbara Friedman about what's trending online.
(Skip to 1:38 on the audio player below to listen to the full conversation.)
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced that he is moving the Christmas holiday from December to October this year.
Maduro - who won a disputed election in July - said he would move the holiday and create a season filled with peace, happiness and security.
“It’s September, and it already smells like Christmas. 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 1 October,” said Maduro said during his weekly television address.
Watch the moment:
It is not the first time Maduro has moved Christmas for political purposes — he did it during the Covid-19 pandemic — but this is the earliest alternate date for Venezuela's festive period.
Many Venezuelans say Maduro made this power move to further his political goals.
Protests recently erupted over Maduro's leadership. He has been in power since 2013, claiming another term at the helm of the oil-drenched South American country.
Just hours before Maduro's holiday announcement, a Venezuelan judge issued an arrest warrant for Edmundo González, the main political opponent, accusing him of various crimes including conspiracy, falsifying documents and usurpation of powers.
Meanwhile, anecdotes abound of struggling Venezuelan citizens infuriated by this announcement.
"In spite of all this chaos and protesting, Maduro thinks he can bring some cheer and happiness back into the country by declaring Christmas earlier."
- Barbara Friedman
"For people and Churches and traditions across the globe, people celebrate at the same time, there's a connection, so if one country is celebrating earlier, it's going to put a bit of a spanner in the works."
- Barbara Friedman
"There are so many other problems in the country and he's not focusing on that. He's like; let's not focus on that, let's focus on Christmas, let's make that the plan this year."
- Barbara Friedman
Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the full conversation.