Chavez revolution takes Venezuelans back half an hour

Venezuelans awoke yesterday to President Hugo Chavez's latest measure to revolutionize their lives -- they were 30 minutes back in time.

Clocks were turned back half an hour as the government carried out a time change intended to optimize use of daylight hours. Chavez has said it will help Venezuelans take better advantage of daylight hours and keep schoolchildren from having to wake up before dawn.

"That affects even the biological functioning of the body, which is scientifically proven," he said yesterday, according to the state-run Bolivarian News Agency.

Others called it an arbitrary move by a socialist leader prone to whimsical measures.

Street vendor Maria Luz Garcia, 74, said she didn't see much sense to the 30-minute adjustment and that it's being done simply "because that man [Chavez] likes to change things like that."

Chavez has also redesigned the national seal and flag, and renamed the country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, after independence hero Simon Bolivar. Venezuela also will launch a new currency, the "strong bolivar," next year.

Garbage collector Jose Hernandez, 48, said he thought the time change was a sound policy that would benefit Venezuelans.

"Children can wake up later," he said. "It's not a whim."

Government officials have been studying the time change since 1999, seeking a compromise for a country wide enough for two time zones. The new hour will remain the same year-round.

The change occurred at 3am, putting Venezuela four-and-a-half hours behind GMT -- a unique time zone for the Americas. Caracas is now a half-hour ahead of New York and Washington during standard time, instead of the previous full hour ahead.

Venezuela joins other places with a half-hour difference from the rest of the planet including India, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Iran and Sri Lanka, along with Canada's Newfoundland, parts of Australia and some islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.