Christmas has literally come early
Christmas is a seasonal affair, going hand in hand with crisp frosty mornings, sitting by a warm fire and of course the light smattering of snow once every four years.
Even in warmer climates, Christmas has become synonymous with cultures, traditions and time periods specific to that region.
However, for citizens of one country that is all set to change with one country’s leader announcing that Christmas will now happen on 1 October.
To be specific that is 26 days away, so advent calendars are already in credit (better get opening).
This Christmas cracker concerns Venezuela in South America who, under autocratic President Nicolas Maduro, has given the gift of an early Christmas to his people.
It’s probably not the sort of thing that would go down well anyway, but even less so when citizens have been given less than a month to prepare for the festive season.
Talking to the people on TV, Maduro, who has often been described as a dictator, descended into a strange rant.
He said: “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 October 1.”
Strangely enough Maduro has a track record when it comes to bringing Christmas early as he did so during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, as reported by the Mirror, one local Jose Ernesto Ruiz, 57, said: “Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy, family reunions, parties, presents. Without money and with this political crisis, who can believe there will be an early Christmas?”
Meanwhile Mother Ines Quevedo, 39, said: “We are all worried about how we are going to put food on the table, how we are going to pay for the bus, send the children to school and buy medicine when we need it.
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“I don’t think they will improve our salaries or pay us the ‘aguinaldo’ (Christmas bonus). We’ll see what this Christmas is all about.”
President Maduro has been in power in Venezuela since since 2013 and has seen his country plummet on by 42 places on the Press Freedom Index under his authoritarian government.
In July, he was declared as winner of the latest presidential elections by the ruling party, however, no detailed data proving his victory was shown to back up the claim.
This ultimately garnered lots of international condemnation, while Maduro’s main opposition, Edmundo Gonzalez, produced tallies showing they had won more the majority of votes.
Just before Maduro announced Christmas in October, a Venezuelan judge issued an arrest warrant for Gonzalez, accusing him of various crimes including conspiracy, falsifying documents and usurpation of powers.
Following on from Maduro’s contentious election win, protests broke out in Venezuela with the government responding with thousands of arrests, among them many journalists, politicians and aid workers.
