Talk:Salvadoran Civil War

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A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the On this day section on January 16, 2010.

Central America

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Cold War Mid‑importance

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El Salvador Top‑importance

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This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (color, defense, traveled) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

Section sizes

Section size for Salvadoran Civil War (43 sections)
Section name	Byte count	Section total
(Top)	15,814	15,814
Background	10,155	10,155
Coup d'état, repression and insurrection: 1979–1981	60	20,709
Military coup October 1979	3,874	3,874
Aims of the junta's violent repression	2,443	2,443
Motivation for the resistance	6,415	6,415
Assassination of Archbishop Romero	4,171	4,171
Murder and rape of US nuns	2,793	2,793
Repression stepped up	953	953
"Draining the Sea"	2,436	14,739
Scorched earth offensives of 1981	3,735	3,735
El Mozote massacre	8,568	8,568
Interim government and continued violence: 1982–1984	60	9,551
Peace offer and rejection	1,056	1,056
FMLN steps up campaign	1,327	1,327
Interim government	1,543	1,543
More atrocities by the government	3,169	3,169
Government murder of human rights and labor union leaders	2,396	2,396
Duarte presidency: 1984–1989	36	24,639
Fixed elections and lack of accountability	2,817	2,817
Days of Tranquillity	1,522	1,522
Army massacres continue	4,005	4,005
Peace talks	1,194	1,194
Army death squads continue	1,456	1,456
FMLN offensive of 1989 and retaliation	1,891	1,891
US message	3,725	3,725
Government terrorism in San Salvador	906	906
Death squads take on the church	2,992	2,992
Pressures to end stalemate	4,095	4,095
Death squads and peace accords: 1990–1992	4,213	4,213
Aftermath	1,124	9,815
Truth Commission	6,821	6,821
Military reform	1,054	1,054
National Civil Police	816	816
Human Rights Commission of El Salvador	2,022	2,022
Post-war international litigation	5,819	5,819
See also	523	523
Notes	24	24
References	30	30
Further reading	23	6,472
Books	5,711	5,711
Journals/academic studies	738	738
External links	1,172	1,172
Total	125,697	125,697

A fact from Salvadoran Civil War appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 28 February 2006. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the shooting of the government critic Archbishop Óscar Romero on March 24, 1980 was one of the causes of the El Salvador Civil War, in which 75,000 people died?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2006/February.

Wikipedia

I have a proposition to make.

As has already been said, it is very overemphasized that the United States supported the Salvadoran Civil War. Additionally, too much emphasis is put on the external political factors which influenced the war, and it digresses. It appears as though much of the page is devoted to describing the US role in supporting the war, as well as blaming the United States for involvement in repression. While the US role is no doubt important and needs to be emphasized, it is overemphasized. I propose that much of the information on the US be deleted and that mention of the US pertain strictly to the military aspects of its support for the counterinsurgency.

The political tensions in the US and commentary on the moral issues which accompanied US support for El Salvador's governments should probably be excised. I propose that "Counter-terror strategy" and "Justifications for US support" be removed completely. They are entirely superfluous and seem to exist for the sole purpose of indicting the US for its role in the war. Additionally, interviews with former death squad members, guerrillas, military personnel, etc. should be excised. This information needs to be preserved somewhere, but NOT here.

As I write this, more than half of the page focuses on either the fine details of US support or digresses and focuses too much on the Cold War context. The actual military aspects of the war and its impact need to be focused on. Project X needs its own article if it doesn't have one; the information does not belong here.

This is much less an article than it is an anti-US propaganda piece.

Thank you for your input. My personal issue isn't merely the existence of massive one sided bias. I'm quite used to bias in articles and have given up on trying to maintain perfect neutrality. It is the employment of deliberately and maliciously false and misleading information in key sections of the article discussing external involvement in the war. Many assertions are flatly contradicted by the sourcing provided, others are cherry picked out of context quotes many of which are totally unrelated to the war. In other words, these are in no way honest mistakes made by people trying to sort out the various nuances of the war but rather an attempt to turn the article into a propaganda tract. I can elaborate further if need be. CJK (talk) 19:01, 17 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Main author of this section (CJK? unclear to me): "the United States supported the Salvadoran Civil War" -- even the use of this phrase is wrong (why would the U.S. want a war?) and a misleading characterization of a criticism; more truthful would be that the U.S. supported the military government in the Salvadoran civil war. And this is absolutely crucial to any understanding of the conflict. The U.S. role was central, as honest students of Latin American and Central American history (and those who paid attention to the U.S. role in South Vietnam) know well. UTC's pro-government bias I called out above. EricClarion (talk) 09:09, 9 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Length

As per WP:LENGTH, I feel this article needs a substantial pruning job. Without getting into debates about POV, I think everybody can agree it is too long; almost twice the suggested maximum size. I am considering trimming the huge number of details, especially of policies implemented. Comments? Vanamonde93 (talk) 21:54, 19 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Vanamonde93, one of the students (Eharris33) I'm working with this semester/quarter has some concerns over the page's length. I think that it's generally OK but could do with a little summarizing here and there, as well as some sources for the claims that need cites. What do you think? I know that you overhauled this back in 2014. Shalor (Wiki Ed) (talk) 13:30, 31 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified (January 2018)

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A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

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Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 15:53, 24 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Article Evaluation

The article seems very reliable as the information is based off of several peer-reviewed services. In addition the tone of the article is very neutral and straightforward. It is clear that the article was made with caution and to educate the public. The way the article provides context to the war through political and social forces is very crucial to understanding the historical event. Anais Mejia (talk) 06:47, 6 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]