Maduro postpones Christmas to October amid post-election turmoil

(UPDATE) CARACAS — Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro has announced that Christmas will be celebrated earlier this year, on October 1. He hopes to create some Christmas spirit after the controversial presidential election, which the opposition says he rigged.

The 61-year-old is facing a third six-year term in office despite outrage from the opposition and the international community over the outcome of the July 28 elections.

“Out of respect and gratitude, I will decree that Christmas be brought forward to October 1,” Maduro said in a television appearance on Monday.

EARLY CHRISTMAS JOY? Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro gestures as he delivers a speech at a rally in the capital Caracas on August 28, 2024. AFP PHOTO

It is not the first time that Maduro has changed the date of Christmas since he took power in the predominantly Catholic South American country from Hugo Chávez in 2013.

This time it seems to be an attempt to distract the population from the anger over the election, which the opposition rightly claims for itself.

The United States and several Latin American countries support the Venezuelan opposition's claim of victory, while even pro-Maduro countries Mexico, Colombia and Brazil refused to recognize the official result without seeing detailed vote tallies.

The electoral authority said it could not publish the documents because hackers had manipulated the data. However, observers say there is no evidence of this.

The public prosecutor's office has issued an arrest warrant against the fugitive opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia because he insists that he won the election.

“No one in this country is above the laws, the institutions, as this … coward Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia tried to do,” Maduro said.

Protests following the announcement of Maduro's alleged victory left 25 civilians and two soldiers dead, nearly 200 people killed and over 2,400 detained.