None of the reporters at the news conference in which these rather standard statements were uttered flinched. But hold on a second. French Guiana isn't an island. It is a fully integrated — if not geographically contiguous — part of France, akin to a U.S. state, and French elementary schoolchildren are taught where it is. Headlines in France pivoted to the gaffe and away from the strike.

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I'm not going to tell you where the territory is, though — if you'd like to have your own little smirk at Macron, test your knowledge on the map quiz below.

One thing Macron was right about, however, is that the situation in French Guiana is increasingly serious. Air France canceled all its flights to the region on Sunday and Monday as 37 labor unions went on strike to demand better pay, health coverage and increased public safety.

Barricades line the roads in and out of the main city, Cayenne (like the pepper), and the State Department has warned travelers to stay away for the time being. French Guiana consists mostly of dense rain forest, and almost half of its 250,000 people live in the vicinity of Cayenne.

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Bernard Cazeneuve, France's prime minister, announced Monday that a delegation of officials would be dispatched to French Guiana by the end of the week.

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The situation has even made its way into a debate between the two main contenders in the French presidential election: Macron, of the center-left En Marche! (Onward!) party, and Marine Le Pen, of the far-right National Front. Interviewed Monday by the radio station Europe1, Le Pen said French Guiana was being “submerged by illegal immigration” — an assertion she has leveled about France at large throughout the campaign.

She denounced the “negligence of the state” in the territory's affairs and proposed doubling the number of gendarmes stationed there. Le Pen also endorsed the strikes, though she noted that she didn't agree with the union leaders' methods. Should the National Front win any significant chunk of the Guianan vote, it would be a remarkable departure for the steadfastly socialist-leaning region.

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