Foondit in 1957, it wis oreeginally cawedPuerto Flor de Lis (Port Fleurdelis), then till 1989Puerto Presidente Stroessner (Port Preses Stroessner), efterAlfredo Stroessner. It is pairt o a triangle kent as theTriple Frontera (Triple border), or Tríplice Fronteira in Portuguese. It is linked tae the Brazilian ceety oFoz do Iguaçu bi theFriendship Bridge;Puente de la Amistad in Spainyie,Ponte da Amizade in Portuguese. The ceety is the seat o theRoman Catholic Diocese o Ciudad del Este.
The ceety haes a lairge Asian-born population, specificallyTaiwanese,Koreans,Arabs anIranians, evident in the ceety'smosque anpagodas. The Taiwanese govrenment peyed for the construction o the ceety's toun hall in exchange for Paraguayan support in theUnitit Naitions, hence the Taiwanese banner that flies on the buildin.
Ciudad del Este generates aboot 60% o Paraguay'sGDP. It is the third lairgest free-tax commerce zone in the warld, efterMiami anHong Kong, an — thegither wi Foz do Iguaçu — it is the heidquarters o the company that operates the nearbiItaipu dam. The ceety's economy (anParaguay's economy as well) relies heavily on the mood o theBrazilian economy, as 95% o Paraguay's share o the energy generatit bi theItaipu Dam is sauld tae Brazil (for US$300 million), an that ivery day mony Brazilians cross the mairch tae buy less-expensive products[1] (US$1.2 billion, makstly electronics). Smugglin is a major occupation in the ceety, wi some estimates puttin the value o this black mercat at five times the naitional economy. Indeed, evidence indicates that some o the revenue generatit bi smugglin mey support criminal organisations based ootside the region, includin terrorist organisations.[2][3]
