The University of Oriente Venezuela (Spanish: Universidad de Oriente Venezuela, UDO) is a university located in Eastern Venezuela. The university has 5 campuses located in the states of Sucre, Anzoategui, Monagas, Bolívar, and Nueva Esparta. There is a very large campus in Barcelona which neighbors the big city of Puerto La Cruz, one of Venezuelas most beautiful tourist attractions. The Universidad de Oriente was founded on 21 November 1958 by Decree Law No. 459 published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Venezuela No. 25,831 by the Governing Board chaired by Dr. Edgar Sanabria, as Minister of Education on Dr. Rafael Pizani, under the leadership of its founder Rector Dr. Luis Manuel Peñalver. It became operational on 12 February 1959, which marked the birth of the University of the East and a year later, 113 students and a dozen teachers, in an old mansion of Cumana Caiguire sector, leading the way of fruitful academic activity in this house college. On 29 March 1960, the republic's president, Rómulo Betancourt, officially opening the Universidad de Oriente, an act on the former site of the School "Pedro Arnal" in the capital sucrense.