Cerrito, Paraguay

Cerrito is a city in the Ñeembucú Department, Paraguay.

Map of Cerrito, Paraguay

It is located along the Paraná River with two types of beaches: one with shallow depths in which you can basically cross a long stretch of the river and a deep one just within a few meters from the coast. The city has a population of about 1,100.

Its name comes from a little hill (cerrito) from which you can see the beautiful landscape of the city and the river. At the top of the hill lied a statue of former Paraguayan president Alfredo Stroessner which was destroyed by a lightning strike just before he was overthrown out of the presidency in 1989. Some believe this event indicated a "prediction" of the eventual fall of Stroessner. Others say the statue was never hit by lightning, but was actually toppled by the local citizens celebrating Strossener's overthrow. Local residents say the "hit-by-lighting" story was invented out of embarrassment by local politicians because they belonged to the Colorado Party (Paraguay), same as the disgraced dictator.

A lot of Indian tribes inhabit the city, and several pre-Columbine tombs were found in an area that is very hard to reach because of the poor conditions of the dirt roads. The main tourist attraction of this city is the good fishing spots in the river. Fishing guides and camping areas are available. There are also water taxis to take passengers across the river to Argentina.

Cerrito is the birthplace of Paraguay national football team goalkeeper Justo Villar who currently plays for Colo-Colo.