El Dorado | |
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Coordinates: 6°43′0″N 61°37′0″W / 6.71667°N 61.61667°W | |
Country | Venezuela |
State | Bolívar State |
Municipality | Sifontes Municipality |
Founded | 2 March 1894 |
Time zone | UTC−4 ( VST) |
Climate | Am |
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.
It is on the road to Brazil. El Dorado has a small airport, IATA: EOR, ICAO: SVED.
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 between Venezuela and Britain.
The town has a prison, the Centro Penitenciario de Oriente El Dorado. The Venezuelan prison system is generally overcrowded, [1] and El Dorado prison has been described in the British press as "notorious". [2] [3] In 2015 the Venezuelan press reported the completion of a stage in a project to expand the prison, providing new facilities for the rehabilitation of offenders. [4]