Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has declared that Christmas will come early this year, on 1 October, as he seeks to impart some holiday cheer after a disputed presidential election the opposition claims he stole.
The 61-year-old is set for a third six-year term despite an outcry from the opposition and international community over the results of the election on 28 July.
“In homage to you, in gratitude to you, I am going to decree that Christmas be brought forward to October 1,” Maduro said during a television appearance on Monday.
It is not the first time that Maduro has changed the date of Christmas since taking the reins of the Catholic-majority country from Hugo Chavez in 2013. That year, Maduro brought forward Christmas celebrations to November.
This time, the move appears to be an attempt to distract Venezuelans from anger over the election the opposition claims it rightfully won.
Protests erupted in Venezuela after Maduro’s re-election was announced in late July. Source: AAP / Matias Delacroix/AP
The United States and several South American countries support the Venezuelan opposition’s claim to victory, while even Maduro-friendly Mexico, Colombia and Brazil have refused to recognise the official result without seeing detailed vote tallies.
The elections agency has said it cannot publish the records as hackers had corrupted the data, although observers have said there was no evidence of that.
Protests after Maduro’s alleged victory was announced left 25 civilians and two soldiers dead, nearly 200 people injured and more than 2,400 jailed.
Rallies have also been held in Australia, Spain, Colombia, Mexico and Argentina.
Prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia — who is in hiding — over his insistence that he won the polls.
González Urrutia has insisted that Maduro and his allies stole the election.
“We have the votes, the records, the support of the international community and Venezuelans determined to fight,” he said in a statement on social media platform X last month.
“It is time for an orderly transition.”
