Venezuela announces a delay in their time zone move… again

And you thought it was a slow news day on the time zone front…

Yes, more on Venezuela’s new time zone.

First it was announced that Venezuela would change their time zone by 30 minutes, by turning their clocks back on January 1, 2008… then September 17… and more recently September 24th.

Now Reuters reports today that there’s been confusion in Venezuela with the announced time change… so much so that the government officials behind the change aren’t sure whether to spring forward or fall back.

President Hugo Chavez wants Venezuelan clocks turned back half an hour and he wants it done in record time — next Monday.

“I don’t care if they call me crazy, the new time will go ahead, let them call me whatever they want,” Chavez said on his weekly TV show. “I’m not to blame. I received a recommendation and said I liked the idea.”

Chavez himself has not had time to get to grips with the practicalities of the clock shift.

In his live show, he talked with his brother, the education minister, so that the two men could explain the measure. But they mistakenly told Venezuelans to move their clocks forward at midnight on Sunday, when the policy is to move them back.

Wait: that’s not all.

We have reports tonight that the government may delay the half-hour move all together until October (see this link and translation ) as they…

“… need to notify the international organizations such as the Bureau the International of Weights and Measures and the Bureau the International of the Measurement of the Time, located in France.

“It will take at least two to three weeks for the change to take shape. The President of the Republic (Hugo Chavez) will make the official announcement of when [people] will have to move their clocks by half an hour…

“The change of the time zone of Venezuela will take shape within two or three weeks… according to vice-minister of Planning of the Ministry of the Popular Power for Science and Tecnología, Luis Marcano González.”

We are confirming this with our offices in the region.

For now, we are holding the down level hotfix packages, as noted in KB 938977 which has been held back for the moment. As soon as we receive approval from our offices in the region, we will repost the KB and the packages will be available.

Update: The KB is now live and you can request the hotfix by going to http://support.microsoft.com/gp/CUHotFix_LandingPage_Request.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, DST, Time Zones, Venezuela. 629,596; 907,942; 1,750,000+