HISTORY

HISTORY AND REGIONAL CONTEXT

History of Ciudad del Este

Located on the eastern edge of Paraguay, where the borders of Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina meet at what is known as the ‘Triple Frontier,’ Ciudad del Este serves as Paraguay’s gateway to connect the country to international trade, employment, and culture.

Ciudad del Este is located on land that was once the home of the Ava Guaraní, Mbya Guaraní, and the Caygua people for many years. In the late 1880s, pioneer Paraguayan communities began migrating throughout the country, further developing the region. Ciudad del Este, a relatively young city, was established in 1957 as a frontier town after President Alfredo Stroessner came to power in 1954. Ciudad del Este and the region had extensive infrastructure developments in the 1960s and 1970s with the construction of Ruta 7 (now Ruta 2), which connected the city to both the Atlantic Ocean to the east and Asunción to the west, as well as the construction of the Puente de la Amistad and the Itaipu Dam. With these new major infrastructure projects, the city began growing to accommodate construction workers and engineers. This connective infrastructure allowed for trade across the tri-border

region, which flourished in subsequent years, attracting more residents to the area.

Border trade ultimately reached its peak in the 1990s, when it was valued at up to $10 billion USD, which was greater than the national GDP at that time. The city has continued to grow, and recently the region has made efforts to improve connectivity with the new development of the Puente de la Integración, a bridge between Presidente Franco and Foz do Iguaçu, and with the widening of Ruta 2.