[Ian Williams]

Ciudad del Este
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Ciudad del Este
— City —
View of Ciudad del Este skyline
Flag Seal
Ciudad del Este Location of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay
Coordinates: 25°31′00″S 54°37′00″WCoordinates: 25°31′00″S 54°37′00″W
Country	Paraguay
Department	Alto Paraná
Founded	February 3, 1957
Government
• Intendente Municipal	Sandra Mac Leod de Zacarias
Area
• Total	104 km2 (40 sq mi)
Population (2008)
• Total	320,782
• Density	3,100/km2 (8,000/sq mi)
Time zone	AST (UTC-04)
• Summer (DST)	ADT (UTC-03)
Postal code	7000
Area code(s)	(595) (61)
Website	Official website

Ciudad del Este (Spanish for City of the East) is the second largest city in Paraguay and capital of Alto Paraná Department, located at the Rio Paraná. As of 2008 its population was of 320,872.

Contents

History

This section requires expansion.

Founded in 1957, it was originally called Puerto Flor de Lis, then until 1989 Puerto Presidente Stroessner, after Alfredo Stroessner. The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ciudad del Este.


Geography
See also: Gran Ciudad del Este The city, coextensive with the homonymous district, is located in south-eastern Paraguay. Part of a "triangle" known as the Triple Frontier, Ciudad del Este lies in front of the Brazilian city of Foz do Iguaçu (state of Paraná). Separed from it by Paraná River, it is linked by the Friendship Bridge. The Argentine border is located between the neighbouring town of Presidente Franco and Puerto Iguazú (Misiones Province).

Ciudad del Este, along with the towns and districts of Hernandarias and Presidente Franco, forms a metropolitan area named Gran Ciudad del Este (i.e. Greater Ciudad del Este).


Population

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The city has a large Asian-born population, specifically Taiwanese, Koreans, Lebanese, and Iranians, evident in the city's mosque and pagodas. The Taiwanese government paid for the construction of the city's town hall in exchange for Paraguayan support in the United Nations, hence the Taiwanese flag that flies on the building. The total population of its metropolitan area is estimated at 700,000 people.

From the 1970s, Sunni Muslim Arabs moved to the city. This changed in the 1980s to Shia Muslim Arabs from South Lebanon.^[1]


Economy
CDE was, according to Forbes, the third commercial city in the world between 1990 and 2002.The city is the headquarters of the company that operates the nearby Itaipu Dam dam. The city's economy (and Paraguay's economy as well) relies heavily on the mood of the Brazilian economy, as 95% of Paraguay's share of the energy generated by the Itaipu Dam is sold to Brazil (for US$300 million), and that every day many Brazilians cross the border to buy less expensive products^[2] (US$1.2 billion, mostly electronics). Smuggling is a major occupation in the city, with some estimates putting the value of this black market at five times the national economy. Although some people and countries state that there are terrorist organizations in the area, no evidence of this has been found.^[3][4]


Transportation
Guarani International Airport, located in the suburb city of Minga Guazú, connects the city with other South American destinations.


In media

• In 2005, it was a filming location for Miami Vice, a film directed by Michael Mann and based on his television series of the same name.

• The Triple Frontier (or here referenced as the Tri-Border Area) is featured as the backdrop for the NCIS episode "An Eye for an Eye", as NCIS Special Agents Anthony DiNozzo and Caitlin Todd must travel down to this area of southern Paraguay in order to investigate a professor involved in a case in which a pair of blue eyeballs were mailed to a murder victim.

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This post has been edited by Ian Williams: 28 April 2012 - 13:51