Rivera

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 (see photo) 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. …

The climate in Rivera, as well as in Santana do Livramento, is humid subtropical (Cfa, according to the Köppen climate classification), temperate in the winter and relatively hot in the summer.

One of the main economic activities of the city of Rivera is the duty free stores. These are aimed at Brazilian neighbors, mainly coming from the cities of Rio Grande do Sul, near the border with Uruguay. The close proximity of Rivera makes it 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% less 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. There is also 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.

There are regular bus services to Montevideo. A rail service to Tacuarembó has been run intermittently. Rivera is served by Pres. Gral. Óscar D. Gestido International Airport. On August 14, 2023 Uruguay and Brazil signed an agreement to internationalize the airport. According to this agreement, as a binational facility, flights originated in Brazil are treated as domestic, even though the facility is in Uruguayan territory.

In 2023, Rivera had a population of 84,775 Source: National Statistics Institute Many residents of Rivera speak Uruguayan Portuguese, a variety of Portuguese heavily influenced by Rioplatense Spanish.