Talk:1954 Guatemalan coup d'état/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Simon Burchell (talk · contribs) 09:01, 27 July 2015 (UTC)

I hope to pick this up in the next few days. Simon Burchell (talk) 09:01, 27 July 2015 (UTC)

GA review – see WP:WIAGA for criteria

1. Is it reasonably well written?

   A. Prose is "clear and concise", without copyvios, or spelling and grammar errors:

   B. MoS compliance for lead, layout, words to watch, fiction, and lists:

2. Is it factually accurate and verifiable?

   A. Has an appropriate reference section:

   B. Cites reliable sources, where necessary:

   C. No original research:

3. Is it broad in its coverage?

   A. Major aspects:

   B. Focused (see summary style):

4. Is it neutral?

   Fair representation without bias:

5. Is it stable?

   No edit wars, etc:

6. Does it contain images to illustrate the topic?

   A. Images are tagged with their copyright status, and valid fair use rationales are provided for non-free content:

   B. Images are provided if possible and are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions:

7. Overall:

   Pass or Fail:

Monroe Doctrine

• production in central America - depending on what this is referring to, this should almost certainly be capitalised as "Central America", and linked. Simon Burchell (talk) 09:31, 3 August 2015 (UTC)
  • This is referring to the region of the Americas, and not the center of the USA, so yes, you're right. I've done this. Vanamonde93 (talk) 14:50, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

Authoritatian governments

• $215,000 - best to clarify as "US$" - Guatemala doesn't have dollars, and neighbouring Belize does, so do a few countries in the Caribbean. Best to check throughout the article (the way you handled this at Guatemalan Revolution was a good solution). Simon Burchell (talk) 09:42, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
  • Done, I think. Vanamonde93 (talk) 15:18, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

Guatemalan Revolution and Presidency of Arévalo

• Arévalo was disliked by the church - this certainly refers to the Roman Catholic church, and given the presence of Evangelical churches in Guatemala since the 19th century, this needs to be clarified (and supported by the cite). When clarified, it can be linked to Roman Catholicism in Guatemala. Simon Burchell (talk) 09:04, 4 August 2015 (UTC)
  • This must have been the Roman Catholic Church, but I'll double check the source, give me a brief while. Vanamonde93 (talk) 14:57, 4 August 2015 (UTC)
  • Checked the source, it says Catholic church, so I've added the link. Vanamonde93 (talk) 13:33, 6 August 2015 (UTC)

Planning

• as well as his resemblance to a Spanish nobleman - I'm not really sure what this means, it could do with some clarification. Did he act like a Spanish nobleman, or look like one, or was he from a Spanish noble line? Simon Burchell (talk) 10:09, 7 August 2015 (UTC)
  • I believe it was his physical appearance that the CIA was concerned about. Here is the quote; "But CIA political experts like Howard Hunt rejected Ubico's former henchman as being too reactionary and apt to incur the hostility of both the international community and the Guatemalan people. Ydigoras also resembled a Spanish noble, which agency pundits considered a definite liability. Hunt explained, "There were the little things we had to take into consideration. You don't rally a country made of mestizo's with a Spanish don."" I also realize that my rendering of mestizo as "indigenous people," is not strictly correct, but I don't know if it is enough of a problem to change it; most readers would not understand the term "mestizo." So what would you suggest? I could tweak it to something like "Ydigoras had a physical resemblence to ..." or "Ydigoras had the visage of..." or we could just drop that sentence. Vanamonde93 (talk) 15:22, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

• Perhaps something along the lines of "his purely European extraction, which was unlikely to appeal to the majority mixed-race mestizo population" - I think we should include the term mestizo, since the aim of an encyclopedia is to educate, after all, and if the term is linked it will be easy enough for curious readers to look it up. Simon Burchell (talk) 15:30, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

• I like that. I'm going to add this but tweaking "purely European extraction" to "European visage," because the sources don't actually say anything about heritage; he might have had a little indigenous blood in him somewhere. Vanamonde93 (talk) 15:40, 7 August 2015 (UTC)
• Done. Vanamonde93 (talk) 15:43, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

Castillo Armas' invasion

• causing Castillo Armas to demand more from the CIA. Eisenhower quickly agreed to provide more - these two instances of "more" in close succession read a little clumsily, could you rephrase? Simon Burchell (talk) 10:26, 7 August 2015 (UTC)
  • Done. Vanamonde93 (talk) 15:21, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

Árbenz' resignation

• Díaz reneged on his support, and began plotting to overthrow him with other senior army officers - it is not awfully clear who "him" refers to; I assume Árbenz, but will leave you to clarify. Simon Burchell (talk) 15:14, 7 August 2015 (UTC)
  • Yes, it was indeed Árbenz, but you're right, it was rather unclear. I've tweaked it. Vanamonde93 (talk) 15:51, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

Military governments

• Pacto de las Tunes - could you double-check this? "las Tunes" doesn't make much sense, and Googling the phrase turned up nothing, suggesting it is a mistake. Simon Burchell (talk) 16:06, 7 August 2015 (UTC)
  • Ah, my Spanish falls short again. A mistake is fairly likely, but I'll need to check the source text, give me a few hours (I'm at work right now :). Vanamonde93 (talk) 16:10, 7 August 2015 (UTC)
  • Turns out it is Pacto de las Tunas, not Tunes as I had it. I've corrected it now, I hope it makes sense. Vanamonde93 (talk) 04:05, 8 August 2015 (UTC)

General comments

• The article is sprinkled with both "US" and "U.S." when referring to the United States; it should be internally consistent. MOS:ABBR does not prefer one over the other. Simon Burchell (talk) 09:29, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
  • Done. I think I started out writing US, and switched subconsciously at some point. Vanamonde93 (talk) 15:31, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
    • I found a couple of instances you missed, but it's all sorted now. Simon Burchell (talk) 11:22, 6 August 2015 (UTC)
      • Thanks. Vanamonde93 (talk) 14:01, 6 August 2015 (UTC)
• As per WP:MOSCAPS, military ranks should only be capitalised when followed by a name, e.g. "Colonel Albert Haney" - but "Albert Haney was a colonel" not "Albert Haney was a Colonel". I have corrected a couple of instances of stand-alone capitalised ranks, but there may be more - it is worth scanning the article for more. Simon Burchell (talk) 15:22, 7 August 2015 (UTC)
  • I've read through once, and I don't think there's any instances left. Vanamonde93 (talk) 16:35, 10 August 2015 (UTC)
• Some of the referencing could be more specific. For example, McAllister 2010 covers a page range consisting of 33 pages, meaning that effectively anyone verifying information has to scan the whole source. Ideally this should be broken down into a greater number of refs giving specific page nos, although it will not affect me passing this article.
  • I'll fix this later today. Vanamonde93 (talk) 16:35, 10 August 2015 (UTC)

Closing comments

Well done on another fine article - although I already new the broad details of the coup, I learnt a lot from reading this. AGF on offline sources, but I have seen nothing here that contradicts my previous knowledge of the events. There may be a few things to look at if planning to take this to FA, some of the captions are rather lengthy, and some of the image licences would undergo closer scrutiny than I can provide. Many thanks for all your hard work on an important Guatemalan topic. Simon Burchell (talk) 16:28, 10 August 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for a very helpful review! I'll address that last point about the references, because it's a good point, even though you have passed this. Regards, Vanamonde93 (talk) 16:39, 10 August 2015 (UTC)