Nicolás Maduro decrees ‘advancement of Christmas to October 1’ after González Urrutia arrest warrant

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced Monday that this year’s Christmas holidays will begin in October. Hours after the Attorney General’s Office ordered the arrest of opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia on terrorism-related charges and in the middle of a profound political crisis, the Chavista leader took advantage of his television program to announce a change in the festive calendar. “It is September and it already smells like Christmas. And that is why this year, in homage to you, in gratitude to you, I am going to decree the advancement of Christmas to October 1,” Maduro said.

The Venezuelan president addressed his supporters while recalling the massive blackout last Friday, which affected around 80% of the country. Authorities attributed the failure of the power grid to sabotage by his adversaries, orchestrated from abroad. “The criminal electrical attack stopped the economy. People continued working, laboring, and with the support of the working class, in perfect civic-military-police union, we guaranteed absolute peace and the recovery, in record time, from one of the deadliest blows ever attempted against the electrical generation system,” he said.

Maduro insisted: “Christmas starts on October 1. For everyone, Christmas has arrived, with peace, happiness and security.” During the weeks leading up to the December holidays, the Chavista government usually increases the distribution of aid and food packages in the neighborhoods, including hams that during the worst years of the economic crisis became the most anticipated product in the boxes handed out by the so-called Local Committees for Supply and Production (CLAP). In 2020, Maduro announced the beginning of the Christmas festivities on October 15 and the following year, he brought it forward to October 4.

Shortly after Christmas, on January 10, 2025, Maduro is scheduled to take office for a third term, based on the official results of the July 28 presidential election released by the National Electoral Council, for which the authorities have not yet presented evidence. The opposition, led by María Corina Machado and González Urrutia, flatly rejects these numbers and refuted them by publishing the voting tallies compiled by its witnesses or polling station inspectors. Despite political and judicial persecution, the anti-Chavismo alliance promises to maintain the pressure and hopes that, as of January, the main bodies of the international community will not recognize Maduro’s mandate.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition