CNN Reporter Dropped a Brutal Line to Describe Dems' Approval Ratings
Top Biden Aide Finally Reveals Her Role in the Biden Autopen Controversy
Former Rolling Stone Editor Reveals What Really Motivated the Russian Collusion Hoax
Giants Legend Lawrence Taylor Was at the White House...and Some Libs Melted Down
The Problem with Government 'Of, By, and for' the People
The Last Gasps of Anti-Zionism: Exploiting the Children of Gaza
Memo to All Demanding Palestinian Statehood: Hamas Still Has Hostages
An Unconventional Warrior for Israel and Civilization
Recognizing Palestine and Prolonging the War
The Left’s War on Crisis Pregnancy Centers
It’s Time to Support Mothers, Stop Abandoning Them to Abortion
Congress Must Go on Offense for the Second Amendment
Macron’s Self-Aggrandizing Foreign Policy Undermines America’s Interests
How President Trump’s Economic Revival Is Rebuilding the American Dream
The UK Goes All-In on Online Censorship
Tipsheet

Dictator Declares Christmas Season Starting Next Month

AP Photo/Swayne B. Hall

Amid myriad social and economic problems in Venezuela and after a hotly contested election, which saw Nicolas Maduro falsely claim victory, the dictator is attempting to shift focus by declaring Christmas is coming early.

Advertisement

According to his announcement on Monday, the holiday season will begin on Oct. 1.

"September smells like Christmas! This year and to honor you all, to thank you all, I am going to decree the beginning of Christmas on October 1," he said. "Christmas arrived for everyone, in peace, joy and security!”  

Hours earlier, Venezuelan authorities issued an arrest warrant for Maduro's main political rival, Edmundo Gonzalez, and security forces have cracked down on dissent, rounding up more than 2,000 people in the nation.

The attempt to deflect didn't sit well with the populace. 

This is not the first time that Mr. Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, has begun the holiday season so early.

But the announcement, coming amid so much national turmoil, only underscored the widening chasm between the government’s assertion that Venezuela is flourishing and the reality on the ground. One journalist for Univision, Félix de Bedout, called it part of the “dictator’s delirium.”

Inside the country, many people responded with deep sadness — the autocrat co-opting even their favorite holiday — and anger.

Marco, 63, a bus driver in the city of Maracaibo, called the announcement a “mockery” of all those suffering under the current government, adding that Christmas in October was “great news” only for the president and “those in the government who have become richer as we have become poorer.”

Anabella, 25, a university student also in Maracaibo, said that the country was not in the mood for a “party until dawn.”

“It is in the mood for freedom,” she said. “It is in the mood for democracy, it is in the mood for its vote to be respected.” (NYT)

Advertisement

The U.S. is reportedly drafting new sanctions on Venezuelan government officials who worked with Maduro to undermine the results of the July election, according to Bloomberg.


 

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement