Nicolás Maduro has announced that Christmas will be brought forward this year, with the celebration planned for October 1st. This decree was harshly criticized by the country’s bishops, who reaffirmed the traditional dates and meaning of the festivity.
Newsroom (04/09/2024 17:07, Gaudium Press) Amid a serious domestic political crisis with allegations of electoral fraud, Venezuela’s socialist dictator, Nicolás Maduro, has announced an absurdity: “It’s September and it already smells like Christmas. And so this year, in honor of you, in gratitude to you, I’m going to decree that Christmas be brought forward to October 1, with peace, happiness, and security,” Maduro declared during his weekly program ‘Con Maduro+’ last Monday. The decree determines that Christmas decorations will be hung in public buildings.
It’s not the first time Maduro has made such decisions. During the Coronavirus pandemic in 2019, official Christmas celebrations began on November 1; in 2020, October 15; and the following year, October 4.
The Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference criticized the political exploitation of the celebration: “Christmas is a universal celebration which, as a liturgical time, begins on 25 December,” and asked that this festival not be used for “propagandistic or particular political purposes. The manner and timing of its celebration is the responsibility of the ecclesiastical authority, which ensures that the true spirit and meaning of this spiritually and historically rich event is maintained since it marks the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Recently, Maduro also scandalized the public by claiming that Jesus Christ was Palestinian.
There have been massive protests against Maduro’s electoral victory, which was officially announced at the end of July. The opposition declared that, according to their count of the electoral minutes, their candidate Edmundo González had won the presidential election. Independent election observers confirmed this assessment. The US, the EU, and several Latin American countries do not recognize the official result and are calling for an independent review. So far, the Venezuelan judiciary has refused transparent access to electoral documents. On Monday, the Venezuelan Public Prosecutor’s Office also issued an arrest warrant for González for crimes “associated with terrorism”.
Maduro’s decision to bring Christmas forward could be accompanied by the distribution of aid and meals to poor neighborhoods, an action that some media describe as an attempt to consolidate his electoral base.
Compiled by Dominic Joseph
