diff --git a/Modules/_zoneinfo.c b/Modules/_zoneinfo.c
index 38c3f0c45d8..902ece795b5 100644
--- a/Modules/_zoneinfo.c
+++ b/Modules/_zoneinfo.c
@@ -944,6 +944,7 @@ end:
 static int
 load_data(zoneinfo_state *state, PyZoneInfo_ZoneInfo *self, PyObject *file_obj)
 {
+    int rv = 0;
     PyObject *data_tuple = NULL;
 
     long *utcoff = NULL;
@@ -1220,7 +1221,6 @@ load_data(zoneinfo_state *state, PyZoneInfo_ZoneInfo *self, PyObject *file_obj)
         }
     }
 
-    int rv = 0;
     goto cleanup;
 error:
     // These resources only need to be freed if we have failed, if we succeed