Los Llanos Region, Venezuela  The Llanos Region is one of the 10 administrative regions in which Venezuela was divided for its development plans; it comprises the states of Apure (except for the Páez Municipality) and Guárico. In colonial times Apure was part of the Province of Merida del Espiritu Santo de la Grita. When Maracaibo was annexed, it was called the Province of Maracaibo. In 1856 it was established as a province, and in 1864 it was given the status of a state. The colonization of Guárico only began in the 17th century and above all in the 18th century. The cacique Chiparara managed to organize Carib and Otomac groups in the Llanos de Guárico to counter-attack the Spanish colonizing forces.4 After they were defeated, around 1653, the Carib and Otomac groups would either retreat southward or lose cohesion and be gradually assimilated. After independence, Guárico became the scene of numerous battles in the civil wars that plagued the country in the 19th century. In 1856 Guárico became part of Venezuela's 21 provinces until it was declared an independent state in 1864, and an integral part of the United States of Venezuela. After being dissolved in 1898, Guárico acquired its autonomy again and in 1899 it was ratified by presidential decree. From this date on, it remained an independent state even though it suffered changes in its territory. Its boundaries with the state of Aragua were established by a protocol signed in 1933. In 1969, the process of regionalization of Venezuela began through CORDIPLAN, during the government of Rafael Caldera. In the 70's, the Central Plains Region was formed, which included the states of Guárico, Cojedes and Apure (except for the then Paez District, now Paez Municipality), as well as the Arismendi District of Barinas State and the Urdaneta District of Aragua State. Later, in the 80's, the state of Cojedes would join the states of Carabobo and Aragua (entirely) to form the Central Region and the Municipality Arismendi of the state of Barinas joins the Region of Los Andes; acquiring since then its current name. Only the Municipality Paez of the state of Apure belongs to a different region at present. The lower plains, basically below 100 meters above sea level, are flooded during the rainy season or winter and have many rivers, parallel to each other and that change course frequently, due to the action of the dunes (sand mountains) that are moved by the winds during the drought (summer).