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VENEZUELA

CONTINGENT: Grupo Folk. Musica y Danzsas Venezuela
                        Trumbull, CT

The most northerly South American nation, Venezuela has a long Caribbean and Atlantic coast on the north and east. Neighboring republics are Colombia to the west, Brazil to the south, and Guyana to the east. European explorers in 1499 named the region "little Venice" when they saw Indian villages built on pilings over Lake Maracaibo. Lightly populated and mineral rich, Venezuela has enjoyed a free, populist democracy since 1958.