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.
El Dorado | |
|---|---|
.svg)  El Dorado | |
| 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 |
It is on the road to Brazil. El Dorado has a small airport, IATA: EOR, ICAO: SVED.
History edit
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.
Prison edit
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]
Prisoners edit
- Henri Charrière. The prison is mentioned in the book Papillon.[3] While the accuracy of the book has been questioned, it is not disputed that its author, Henri Charrière, was imprisoned in Venezuela in the 1940s,[5] an epoch when the prisoners were assigned to mobile detention camps.
References edit
- ^ "Crowded and grim: Inside Venezuela's prisons". Council on Hemispheric Affairs. August 23, 2011.
- ^ "Venezuela prison riot claims 42 lives". The Independent. 1997. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
- ^ a b "Frank tells of hell in prison". Crewe Chronicle.
- ^ "Inauguran ampliación de cárcel de El Dorado". Correo del Caroni (in Spanish). January 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
- ^ "Dead writer casts doubt". Financial Times. Retrieved 2017-07-30. (subscription required)
External links edit
- Sifontes Official Web Site[permanent dead link] (in Spanish)
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