Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro declared on Saturday that his country would see an "early Christmas" this year after announcing that the national government would pay the first two-thirds of its workers' "aguinaldos" -- a Christmas bonus traditionally granted employees -- between November 10-11, months earlier than usual. Maduro lit the Nativity lights at the presidential palace of Miraflores and said that the last two months of 2013 would be a good example of what was in store for 2014. "Merry Christmas," he said in his remarks afterward. "Merry early Christmas, early victory, early happiness for the whole family ... We want to announce the arrival of Christmas because we want happiness for everyone." Scroll to the bottom of the page to watch Maduro's remarks after the Nativity light ceremony.
Maduro also reserved a few expressions of mockery for members of the opposition whom he has accused of trying to sow instability. "Early Christmas is the best vaccine for anyone who wants to make things up, anyone who wants to stir up trouble and violence. Early Christmas. Those who go about in bitterness will have a 'villancico' from Venezuelan composer Francisco Pacheco, a parranda to cheer the soul." He added, "They're going to mock me because I'm creating a Ministry of Supreme Happiness for the People. It's provocative to make it a ministry, right? Because the great objective of our life -- you all know that life is short. Sometimes there's not enough time to do everything we have to do. And we have to take advantage of it to the fullest...to help others be happy and to be happy yourself too. That's the main message I wanted to give here. Let's be happy and make others happy too."
Bloomberg reports that Maduro's government is using the sale of bonds to fund the import of certain Christmas-related goods which aren't made domestically, such as toys, alcohol, bicycles, trees, wrapping paper and food. Venezuela reinitiated weekly currency auctions of dollar-denominated bonds issued by the state oil company, giving companies a chance to buy as much as $300 million, which the central bank will sell abroad for dollars to purchase Christmas goods and alleviate shortages and inflation which has reached 45 percent. Julio Pena, the president of the Venezuelan Bicycles Assemblers Association, told Bloomberg that only 80,000 bicycles have been assembled in 2013 in the South American nation, less than half of last year's total, because of the shortage of dollars for imports. Pena said the government was "concerned about avoiding shortages of typical Christmas products".
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