Wednesday, 22 August 2018 - 12:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: South America / Südamerika Category/Kategorie: GeneralReading Time: 7minutes
Rivera is the capital of Rivera Department of Uruguay. The border with Brazil joins it with the Brazilian city of Santana do Livramento, which is only a street away from it, at the north end of Route 5. Together, they form an urban area of around 200,000 inhabitants. As of the census of 2011, it is the sixth most populated city of Uruguay.
On 21 March 1860 a pueblo (village) named Pereira was created by the Act of Ley Nº 614. On 7 May 1862, it was substituted by the villa (town) named Ceballos and founded by the Act of Ley Nº 704, in honour of the Spanish viceroy Pedro de Cevallos. In July 1867 it took on the official name Rivera and was recognized as a villa. The Brazilian town Santana do Livramento already existed just across the border. On 1 October 1884, it became capital of the Department of Rivera by the Act of Ley Nº 1.757. Its status was elevated to ciudad (city) on 10 June 1912 by the Act of Ley Nº 4.006.
In 1943, the Plaza Internacional Rivera-Livramento was built to celebrate the Fifth Conference of the Commission Mixta for Mixed Limits and as a hope for the future integration of the two towns, claimed to be the only international square in the world. From 1851 to this day, inhabitants of both communities are free to move in both sides. Customs and checkpoints are located outside the cities. Today, duty-free shops are one of the main economic resources of Rivera. The first inhabitants of the city were Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese and some Brazilians immigrants who lived in Santana do Livramento, on the Brazilian side of the border.
One of the main economic activities of the city of Rivera is the free-shop stores, aimed at Brazilian neighbors, mainly coming from the cities of Rio Grande do Sul, near the border with Uruguay, making Rivera a popular destination for buying imported dollar products. With the fall in the price of the US currency, many devices can be bought for prices up to 40% smaller than similar ones sold in Brazil. The Rivera shopping limit is $300 per person.Purchases above this amount must be declared at the Federal Revenue Office for the payment of the corresponding import tax so that the product can legally enter Brazil. It is also worth mentioning the existence of a casino, located on one of the avenues where the border between the two countries runs. Within the department, livestock farming, agriculture and afforestation predominate.
