Rebecka Bowlus
GEOG F101X
Blog South America

Article link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/brazil-amazon-fire-bolsonaro/2020/03/14/70bfdee4-5417-11ea-929a-64efa7482a77_story.html

Article title:
They say they’re firefighters. Police say they’re arsonists. The battle for truth reaches the Amazon.

Summary of article:
In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro and his government are claiming that a group of volunteer firefighters were responsible for setting many of the fires which destroyed 3,500 sq mi of the Amazon rainforest and biome in a massive, international conspiracy to make him appear incompetent orchestrated by NGOs, France, and Leonardo DiCaprio. The article lays out the complex web motivations on part of the government and of the accused.

Geographic concepts:
The accused volunteer fire crew was located in the community Alter do Chao in the State of Para within Brazil. It lays at the confluence of the Amazon River and the Tapajos River which is a major tributary to the Amazon River. The Amazon biome consists largely of lowland plains surrounded by the Andes Mountains to the west, the Brazilian Highlands to the south, and the Guiana Highlands the north. This funnels all rainfall, snow and glacial melt in one direction. The extensive Amazon drainage system covers 50% of Brazil, 16% of Peru and is in 7 additional countries.