Venezuela’s Maduro Decrees Christmas Will Start Oct. 1 as Election Unrest Continues

Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro this week said he is issuing a decree to move Christmas to October amid widespread unrest and protests against July’s election. Over the past month, tensions have escalated in the country in the fallout of a highly contested presidential election that the U.S. State Department said was not credible. Both Maduro and his opponents have declared victory, causing protests to erupt. As political tensions escalate, Maduro has decided that Christmas should come nearly three months earlier than usual. “September … it smells like Christmas. Smells like Christmas. Smells like Christmas,” he said in his weekly television program on Monday. “That’s why this year in homage to you, I will decree the anticipation of Christmas on Oct. 1. Christmas has begun on Oct. 1,” he said, according to a translation....