In October, Venezuelan clocks will be set at Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) minus 4-1/2 hours, compared to the previous GMT minus four hours. This move by president Hugo Chavez is one of many recently in his drive to achieve a socialist state. The time change, Science and Technology Minister Hector Navarro argues, seeks "a more fair distribution of the sunrise," which would particularly help poor children who wake up before dawn to go to school. "There have been very rigorous scientific studies that have determined that ... the metabolic activity of living beings is synchronized with the sun's light," he says. Navarro also suggested that the government will be announcing additional measures to make better use of time. I can't imagine what might be next... a 26-hour workday?

Filed under: Activism, South America, Venezuela