Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced Monday that Christmas will begin on October 1, a move he said was intended to bring “joy” to the nation. The decree comes amid an escalating military standoff with the United States, which has prompted Maduro to significantly increase troop deployments to the country’s borders.
Speaking on his weekly television program, Maduro framed the early holiday as a defense of “the right to happiness” for Venezuelans. “Once again this year, Christmas starts on October 1 with joy, commerce, activity, culture, carols,” he declared. This is not the first time Maduro has made such a move; he also brought Christmas celebrations forward in 2024 during a crisis following a disputed presidential election.
The announcement coincides with heightened military readiness from both nations. Maduro recently said he would more than double troop deployment to 25,000 soldiers to secure Venezuela’s long Caribbean coastline and its border with Colombia, with forces concentrated around oil infrastructure. “These 25,000 brave men and women of our glorious armed forces are deployed to defend our homeland,” Maduro stated.
This military buildup is a direct response to increased pressure from the Trump administration, which accuses Maduro of colluding with criminal gangs to traffic drugs into the U.S. Washington has doubled the bounty for Maduro’s capture to $50 million, designated the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization, and deployed warships to the region. Recently, a U.S. operation sank a boat, killing 11 people the administration alleged were members of a drug trafficking gang controlled by Maduro.
Underscoring the U.S. commitment, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made a surprise visit Monday to Puerto Rico and the USS Iwo Jima, a Navy ship involved in counter-narcotics efforts. Accompanied by top U.S. military officer Gen. Dan Caine, Hegseth was welcomed by Puerto Rico’s governor, Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon. She thanked the Trump administration for “recognizing the strategic value Puerto Rico has to the national security of the United States and the fight against drug cartels… perpetuated by narco-dictator Nicolas Maduro.”
In a video message from the ship, Hegseth told military personnel they were working to “end the poisoning of the American people.”
Tensions have already led to direct military encounters. On Thursday, two armed Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets flew over the USS Jason Dunham, a U.S. guided-missile destroyer, in an action described by Defense Department officials as a “show of force.”
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