Founded 2 March 1894 Climate Am | Time zone VST Local time Tuesday 7:52 PM | |
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El Dorado is a small town in eastern Venezuela. It is situated in Bolívar State, on the Cuyuni River. It is the second-largest town in Sifontes Municipality; the capital of the municipality is Tumeremo.
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Map of El Dorado, Bol%C3%ADvar, Venezuela
It is on the road to Brazil. El Dorado has a small airport IATA: EOR, ICAO: SVED.
History
El Dorado was founded in the 1890s. Gold mining was developing in the area, and there was a background of international tension caused by the Essequibo border dispute.
Prison
The town has a prison, the Centro Penitenciario de Oriente El Dorado, which has been described by the Independent as "notorious". The prison is mentioned in the book Papillon which refers to an epoch when the prisoners were assigned to mobile detention camps.
The Venezuelan prison system is generally overcrowded. In 2015 the press reported the completion of a stage in a project to expand the El Dorado prison, providing new facilities for the rehabilitation of offenders.