This is the moment Venezuela’s crackpot socialist president Nicolas Maduro exclaims that Christmas has started early while showing off a handful of decorations in his plush palace amid reports that 94 percent of the country is in poverty.
The video was shared on the president’s Twitter account on 5th October with the message: “Christmas came to the Miraflores Palace and to our entire country, with the joy and details that characterise this special time. In Venezuela we are going to have a happy Christmas, full of lights and colour.”
In the footage, the socialist president, 58, who has been in power since the death of former leader Hugo Chavez in 2013, is seen walking alongside his wife Cilia Flores, 64, in the presidential palace in the Venezuelan capital Caracas.
He says to the Venezuelan people, largely suffering after years of hyperinflation and economic turmoil, that “Christmas is already here, it is starting in October.”
He points out a “little Christmas tree” to the viewers and explains that he was in a meeting earlier in the day while mentioning that he does not know where to post the video as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram were all down for most of that day.
Maduro points out another flashing Christmas tree to the camera before showing off an illuminated deer, adding: “Look at the stunning detail. How beautiful, look.”
The beleaguered president, who won the last election in 2018 with nearly 68 percent of the vote, a result that was denounced as fraudulent by many neighbouring countries, tells the world: “In Venezuela, we have happy Christmases. Dazzling Christmases. Full of lights and colour.”
Local media said it is the third year in a row that the socialist leader has brought Christmas forward in the country, where the people have been suffering a hunger crisis for many years amid claims of political corruption during Maduro’s presidency.
In 2019, the Christmas period was announced in November while last year it got underway on 15th October. This is to promote the idea that Venezuela is “improving” after years of economic turmoil, but the poverty levels continue to grow.
The 2020-2021 National Survey of Living Conditions (ENCOVI), conducted by researchers at Andres Bello Catholic University (UCAB), says that the national poverty rate in the socialist country is over 94 percent while that of extreme poverty is nearly 77 percent.
Since Maduro took power eight years ago, the country has been in a continually-worsening economic recession, but the president apparently believes an extended Christmas holiday will boost the country’s coffers.
