Matt:
You always seem to have some good questions and I can answer #4 I think.
The first reference I can find to Topps in Venezuela has Joseph Shorin traveling there in August 1953, which I suspect was an exploratory trip and probably to find an business agent and establish relationships. The Shorin's may already have made contacts or at least been introduced there through what I perceive to be a loose Central American/Cuban/Puerto Rican network they were part of going back to the American Leaf Tobacco days but I am not sure about that playing a role in Venezuela.
Joe Shorin made another trip there in April of 1957 and that is probably the start of the process to produce and sell baseball cards there. Someone else must have followed through as Shorin would become sick (and not recover) not too long after that but he was President of Topps and may have been the one to sign contracts and agreements locally.
The whole Venezuelan project is interesting and frustrating ath the same time to me as there are a lot of questions that probably can never be answered fully.
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