Puerto Ayacucho

Puerto Ayacucho is the capital and largest city of Amazonas State in Venezuela. Puerto Ayacucho is located across the Orinoco River from the Colombian village of Casuarito. The city was founded to facilitate the transport of goods past the Atures Rapids on the Orinoco River in the late 19th century (mostly rubber). Now the economy is supported by both national and international tourism. Also based here is the Venezuelan army and navy, conducting a continuous low level campaign against incursions and drug-runners from nearby Colombia. The climate is equatorial and the surrounding rainforests are some of the world's least explored and most untouched. The nearby forested mountains (tepuis) contain some of the world's least investigated microsystems. History Puerto Ayacucho began to be built in 1924 at the initiative of the regime of Juan Vicente Gómez, who was alerted to the strategic riches of the region, and was officially founded on December 9, 1928, in commemoration of the Battle of Ayacucho, by the engineer and geologist Santiago Aguerrevere. It thus replaced San Fernando de Atabapo, which had been the administrative center of this former district, then province, later federal territory and finally state. Located on a huge black granite rock, facing the Colombian shore, the city is today the most important town in Amazonas and a river port that brings together the economic activity of the area.