Carnival holiday may take heat out of Venezuela crisis

Firefighters combat a blaze at a clothes factory building in Caracas February 27, 2014. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelans began a week-long national holiday on Thursday as some protests still simmered, but President Nicolas Maduro's government was hoping the break would take the heat out of the nation's worst unrest in a decade.

The 51-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez brought forward by two days a long national holiday weekend for Carnival when Venezuelans traditionally abandon cities and head for Caribbean coast beaches to unwind and party.