Venezuela: President Moves Christmas Forward to October 1st

This is not the first time that Hugo Chavez's successor has considered himself the master of the calendar: “Already in 2020, the Bolivarian leader had announced the start of the Christmas festivities for October 15th and, the following year, he had moved it forward to the 4th of the same month," recalls El País. Of course, the president does not intend to oblige the Church to celebrate Christmas liturgically in October.

But he wants to anticipate what accompanies the celebration on a civil level: holidays and festivities. Thus, as El País explains, “In the weeks leading up to the December festivities, the Chavista government usually intensifies the distribution of aid and bags of food in the neighborhoods, including hams, which, during the worst years of the economic crisis, became the most anticipated product in the boxes of the local supply and production committees (CLAP).”

Nicolás Maduro should take office on January 10, and will thus begin a third term, “based on the official results of the July 28 elections published by the National Electoral Council, for which the authorities have not provided proof,” El País recalls.

The opposition parties “categorically reject these figures and refute them by publishing the tally sheets drawn up by their witnesses or table verifiers.… The anti-Chavez alliance promises to keep up the pressure and is convinced that, as early as January, the main bodies of the international community will not recognize Maduro’s new mandate.”

In an appeal for calm after the many demonstrations that followed the publication of the results, “The Holy See maintains that only dialogue and the active and full participation of all political actors involved in this process can help overcome the current situation and bear witness to democratic coexistence in the country,” notes Vatican News.

However, the Vatican news site goes further in a later article: “As in previous elections, the re-election of Nicolás Maduro as head of Venezuela is contested by the opposition, which claims victory. The country seems to be at an impasse again. But this time, opponents and Chavistas alike know that the outgoing president has lost.”

As for the episcopate, according to the same media outlet, “Monsignor Mario Moronta Rodríguez, vice president of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference and Bishop of San Cristóbal, shares the people’s uncertainty, generated by the events of the presidential election: ‘we expect that conscience, intelligence, and a sense of service to the people will prevail,’” he told Vatican News.