NewsTracker Answers for week of Aug. 04, 2014

Q: Indigenous tribesmen living deep in the Peruvian rainforest have emerged into the outside world to seek help after suffering a murderous attack by probable drug traffickers. Where is Peru?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Seven naked tribesmen armed with bows and arrows showed up a village just across Peru's border with the largest country in South America . . .

A. Argentina

B. Brazil

C. Colombia

D. Suriname

B. The Amazon tribesmen asked for weapons and allies, according to a member of the Brazilian Ashaninka tribe who met them on the banks of the Envira river in the Brazilian state of Acre. Brazil contains 60% of the Amazon rainforest followed by Peru with 13%. Suriname is South America's smallest nation.

Q: The tribesman said they had been attacked by non-Indians with guns who massacred most of their old people and set fire to the tribe's houses. What is the primary illegal drug produced in Peru?

A. Marijuana

B. Heroin

C. Cocaine

D. Methamphetamine

C. Peru has overtaken Colombia as the world’s biggest producer of coca leaf, the primary ingredient for cocaine and crack. Brazil is the second biggest market for the drugs after the United States.

Q: In addition to armed attacks by drug traffickers and illegal loggers, what else is a major threat to the estimated 75 uncontacted indigenous tribes living in the vast Amazon rainforest?

A. Oil exploration

B. Building boom

C. Diamond mining

D. All of the above

A. Oil and gas exploration is now pushing into remote areas, particularly in Peru. The existence of isolated populations have been a controversial topic in Peru. Government officials including the former of head of the state oil company even denied the existence of isolated tribes as recently as 2007.

Q: Why have government officials in Peru and Brazil been warned to to keep away from Amazon tribespeople?

A. Avoid attacks by the tribes

B. Avoid trespassing on tribal land

C. Avoid attacks on the tribes

D. Avoid spreading disease to tribes

D. The tribesman that visited the village in Brazil caught a serious respiratory disease after contact, a major killer of isolated indigenous people. Untold millions of native Americans have been killed by diseases brought to the Western Hemisphere by Europeans – far more than those slain by armed attacks.