Ciudad del Este

Ciudad del Este (sjuˈðað ðel ˈeste, Spanish for Eastern City; often shortened as CDE) is the second-largest city in Paraguay and capital of the Alto Paraná Department, situated on the Paraná River. It is located 327 km from Asunción, the capital, and is adjacent to the border with Brazil, to which it is connected by the Friendship Bridge on the Paraná River. It is the largest city within the Triple Frontier region, which borders Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil and Puerto Iguazú, Argentina. The Itaipú Dam, one of the largest hydroelectric power plants in the world, is near Ciudad del Este, as is the Iguazu Falls. Ciudad del Este is a commercial city, and is one of the largest free-trade zones in the world. Its tax-free status attracts many Brazilians and Argentines to the city. Ciudad del Este has consulates for Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Syria, Turkey, and Taiwan. The city is home to Club Atlético 3 de Febrero, whose home ground Estadio Antonio Aranda was used for the 1999 Copa América and is Paraguay's third biggest football stadium. Ciudad del Este will host the 2022 South American Rugby Championship. The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ciudad del Este. After the fall of Argentine President Juan Domingo Perón in the 1950s, the government of Alfredo Stroessner took the decision to vigorously promote the so-called "March to the East", seeking to reach the Atlantic Ocean, through Brazil. The main problem encountered in the exit through the Río de la Plata was the excessively expensive freight, which made the exported products commercially uncompetitive. In 1955, the Mixed Paraguayan-Brazilian Commission was set up to boost the highway to the East, and in 1956 a reconnaissance flight was made on Alto Paraná. The construction of a road route to the Paraná River bank was led by Captain Porfirio Pereira Ruiz Díaz, who supervised several army units in the building of a 200-kilometre section from Coronel Oviedo.