Venezuela’s embattled dictator Nicolas Maduro made an unusual declaration on Monday — Christmas is coming almost three months early.

Maduro is deeply unpopular among the Venezuelan public but has refused to give up power, having falsely declared himself the winner of the country’s July presidential elections despite overwhelming evidence he lost in a landslide. As pressure grows on Maduro to leave office, he announced Monday that he is moving the traditional Dec. 25 Christmas holiday up to Oct. 1 to create a season filled “with peace, happiness and security,” in an apparent effort to distract from his political turmoil.

“September smells like Christmas!” Maduro told a crowd during his weekly television show, according to a translation provided by CNN. “This year and to honor you all, to thank you all, I am going to decree the beginning of Christmas on Oct. 1. Christmas arrived for everyone.”

It is not the first time Maduro announced that Christmas would be celebrated earlier than usual, according to CNN. He pulled the same stunt during the COVID-19 pandemic, although he has never declared the holiday as early as Oct. 1.

Maduro’s move is unlikely to raise spirits among the Venezuelan people, who have fallen under calamitous poverty and authoritarian governance under Maduro’s socialist rule, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

“Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy, family reunions, parties, presents,” José Ernesto Ruiz, a 57-year-old office worker, told The Associated Press from the country’s capital on Tuesday. “[But] without money and with this political crisis, who can believe that there will be an early Christmas?”

The U.S. and several Latin American nations have not recognized Maduro’s claim to victory in July, pointing to a growing body of evidence that he lost to his political opponent, Edmundo Gonzales. The country’s government has refused to release detailed election results, raising further concerns that the government rigged the process.

Mass protests broke out immediately following the news that Maduro declared himself the winner of the election, prompting a swift law enforcement response and resulting in thousands of arrests. Maduro has become infamous in recent years for rigging elections in his favor and suppressing political dissent through unethical means, including weaponizing the law to remove his opponents from the ballot or arresting them.

Hours before Maduro announced the early Christmas date, a Venezuelan judge issued an arrest warrant for Gonzalez, claiming that he had committed conspiracy and falsification of documents, according to the AP.

Though several nations have called on Maduro to step down, he has shown no indication that he plans to comply.

“We are all worried about how we are going to put food on the table, how we are going to pay for the bus, send the children to school and buy medicine when we need it. “I don’t think they will improve our salaries or pay us the [yearly Christmas bonuses],” Inés Quevedo, a 39-year-old secretary and mother of two, told the AP. “We’ll see what this Christmas is all about.”

(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Nicolas Maduro)