Energy-short Venezuela creates new holiday, time zone

Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro declared a public-sector holiday for Monday and vowed to change the nation’s time zone in the latest dramatic measures to cope with a crippling electricity shortage blamed on low water levels at hydroelectric dams.
Maduro last week gave the public sector every Friday off until June 6, shutting down the workforce in an emergency power-saving measure to battle a looming crisis at the nation’s 18 hydroelectric dams, which he said had been hard hit by drought.
“I am declaring Monday April 18 a non-working day and there will be no educational activity either,” Maduro told thousands of supporters Thursday at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas.
The Venezuelan president said his decision would create an “electricity-saving long weekend.”
With Monday April 18 off, and Tuesday April 19 already an annual holiday marking Venezuela’s independence, public sector employees will effectively get a five-day weekend.
Source: Arab News