Patricia Velasquez

She was born Patricia Carola Velasquez Semprun on Jan. 31, 1971 in Guajira, Venezuela to an Indian mother and a Venezuelan father. The fifth of six children, Velasquez spent her early years living in Paris while her parents worked for the international organization UNESCO. After her father's contract ended, they moved to Mexico City and then back to Venezuela, where finances were so tight that the family could not afford to have running water. …