00:00All right, well, Saturday, it's the first Saturday of Carnival here in Venezuela,
00:05and across the country, people are going out to the parks with their children.
00:11The mood is very calm, and there's a few spontaneous little bands playing around on the streets,
00:17which one just happened to come up as I was coming over here and started playing samba,
00:22so I just want to turn around. I feel like I might as well just show everybody who's playing.
00:27It's a Venezuelan band playing Brazilian Carnival Samba,
00:31one of the many things going on in the park here in Caracas on a Saturday,
00:37in which all things are back to normal in Venezuela.
00:40You wouldn't know from walking around here that six weeks ago there was a horrible bombing
00:46by the U.S. government and kidnapping of the president.
00:49Last year was one of the lowest crime rates in Venezuela's history.
00:53The homicide rate is now eight times lower than neighboring Brazil,
00:58and so people are enjoying that.
01:00People are feeling much freer to walk around on the streets than in the old days,
01:04and as Carnival continues, people are going out in cities like in the mountains,
01:11in the German colonies like Tovar, and in the city of Calaon,
01:14people on the streets holding Carnival parades.
01:17Most people here in Caracas are just enjoying their Saturday,
01:20and as you can see here, there are some bands playing on the streets,
01:24like this samba band that's right here behind me.
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