NewsTracker Answers for week of Mar. 19, 2012

Q: The Vatican condemned the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba ahead of next week's visit by Pope Benedict XVI to the island nation, and it said the pontiff was willing to meet former president Fidel Castro. Where is Cuba on this map?

Circle the area on this map


Q: "The embargo is something that makes the people suffer the consequences," said the Vatican in a prepared statement. How long has the embargo lasted?

A. 5 years

B. 10 years

C. 25 years

D. 50 years


D. Washington imposed the near-total trade embargo in 1961 at the height of the Cold War to punish Cuba for its support of the Soviet Union and in the hope it would topple Castro's communist government. Cuba's government did not fall and is now lead by Fidel Castro's brother, Raul.


Q: Demanding that the pope press for political freedom in Cuba, protesters occupied a Roman Catholic church in the Cuban capital of . . .

A. Santo Domingo

B. Havana

C. Kingston

D. San Juan


B. Cuba's Catholic church leaders slammed last week's occupation as "illegitimate and irresponsible," and police removed the 13 dissidents from the Our Lady of Charity Church after three days. Havana, Santo Domingo, Kingston and San Juan are all capital cities on islands visited by Christopher Colombus at the end of the 15th century.


Q: Before heading to Cuba, Pope Benedict visits Mexico this week. Plans for that visit sparked what preparation?

A. 150,000 communion wafers

B. Ban on alcohol sales

C. Call for a drug cartel truce

D. All of the above


D. The religious order of the Capuchin Poor Clares made 150,000 Frisbee-sized hosts for a Mass in Leon, while 600 businesses within two blocks of the pope's route in Leon were barred from selling alcohol starting eight hours before his arrival. And, the Knights Templar drug gang warned its rivals to keep the peace during the pope's visit.


Q: After the journeys of Christopher Colombus, Spanish and Portuguese conquerors brought Catholicism with them to Latin America. Which Latin American nation has the most Roman Catholics?

A. Argentina

B. Brazil

C. Cuba

D. Mexico


B. With more than 205 million people and about 74 percent of them nominally Catholic, Brazil is the largest country in Latin America. Pope Benedict visited it in 2007. With nearly 115 million people, Mexico is the second largest Latin American nation, and more than 76 percent of Mexicans are Roman Catholic. It is estimated that only 10 percent of Cuba's people are practicing Catholics.