CHRISTMAS Day has been moved to three weeks away as madcap dictator aims to “bring joy” to his people.
Venezuela’s tyrant President Nicolás Maduro – who is in Donald Trump’s crosshairs – has ordered the festive period to kick off on October 1.
President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro has decreed Christmas to happen on October 1[/caption]
He has brought forward the religious holiday four times during his presidency[/caption]
This is the second year in a row that he has made Christmas come early, and a bizarre fourth time in his term, and comes as the US threatens his regime for supporting ruthless drug cartels.
Eleven “narco-terrorist” drug traffickers were killed in the Caribbean Sea during a cold-blooded US strike on a boat, which had set off from Venezuela, the White House said.
“No one and nothing in this world will take away our right to happiness, to life, and to joy”, Maduro decreed in his Christmas announcement.
The Xmas declaration – kicking off with a festive Christmas carol – was made during Maduro’s programme on state broadcaster VTV.
The bus driver-turned-autocrat has been under huge threat from the US since Trump crashed back into office.
He was alarmingly branded “one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security” by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Around 4500 service members, including a whopping 2200 Marines, were reported to have been deployed in late August by Don in the southern Caribbean.
In the naval attack on September 2, Trump later claimed the boat was carrying “massive amounts of drugs” and tied it to Venezuela’s notoriously brutal Tren de Aragua gang.
Trump also warned that Venezuelan jets would be “shot down” if they fly over US naval ships.
The chilling escalation came after Maduro’s F-16s swooped over an American destroyer for a second time as Trump warned the regime was “in trouble”.
he Don has already deployed eight US naval destroyers to the despot’s waters as part of his all-out war against drug-peddling cartels.
When asked how close the jets got to the vessel, Trump said he didn’t want to reveal those details and said: “If they do put us in a dangerous position, they’ll be shot down.”
The latest swoop over USS Jason Dunham was slammed by US officials who branded the teetering conflict a “game of chicken”.
He added: “If they fly in a dangerous position, I would say that… you or your captains can make the decision as to what they want to do.”
It comes after Trump blitzed a drug-smuggling boat which he said was carrying members of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang earlier this week.
The deadly strike killed 11 people on board and marked a huge escalation before he declared full-scale war against the cartels.
Trump has accused Maduro of ‘narco-terrorism conspiracy’ and severe cocaine and firearms charges[/caption]
In August, the US government announced a reward offer of up to $50million – doubling since January – for the arrest of power-mad Venezuelan President.
Trump’s government accused him of “narco-terrorism conspiracy” and severe cocaine and firearms charges.
The Justice Department accused Maduro of leading “The Cartel of the Suns” – a terrifying cocaine trafficking gang – “comprised of high-ranking Venezuelan officials”, according to the US Department of State.
Cartel of the Suns was even sanctioned as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in July.
Dodgy Maduro became president of Venezuela in 2013 and suspiciously declared victory in a presidential election in 2018, and was sworn in for a shocking third six-year term in January this year.
Since 2019, more than 50 countries have refused to recognise Maduro as Venezuela’s head of state, after the country’s National Assembly declared he had usurped power.
