# Talk:Jorge Meléndez

This review is transcluded from Talk:Jorge Meléndez/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Nominator: PizzaKing13 (talk · contribs) 05:19, 11 August 2025 (UTC)
Reviewer: ThaddeusOrlando55 (talk · contribs) 08:51, 22 October 2025 (UTC)
Hola. I'll review this article shortly. This will be my first review. I should be able to respond to any questions on further inquiries within twenty-four hours. – ThaddeusOrlando55 (talk) 08:51, 22 October 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for reviewing this. I am currently in the process of moving and *should* be able to get to this by Monday. PizzaKing13 (¡Hablame!) 🍕👑 05:36, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
Buena suerte with your move. I should be available whenever you are ready. ThaddeusOrlando55 (talk) 17:43, 27 October 2025 (UTC)
@ThaddeusOrlando55: Responded. Thanks for the review! Hopefully I'll get to closer to making Meléndez–Quiñónez dynasty a Good Topic. PizzaKing13 (¡Hablame!) 🍕👑 22:18, 30 October 2025 (UTC)


### Images
Infobox image checks out
Do we know if and when the images of Meléndez with public workers and the Christmas Day Massacre we published in the United States? I don't think it would make a difference given that both photos were taken over a century ago and their authors are unknown, but I was curious. Otherwise, no issues.
We don't know
No concerns with the image of the Venecia hacienda


### Sources
Artiga-González, Lauria-Santiago and Gould, Tipografía Nacional, Ward, Estrada, and Lindo check out
Bernal Ramírez and Quijano de Batres looks mostly good, although:
For ref #6 I see Carlos Meléndez's presidency cited as the beginning of the dynasty on p. 55, not p. 56, unless I read that wrong.
Fixed
I cannot access Castellanos, Leistenschneider and Leistenschneider, or White, but the sources appear reputable
Ching is good except:
For ref #8 I think the page range that you need is pp. 243-244, rather than pp. 244-245.
Fixed, that ends my streak of like 20+ GANs and DYKNs where the reviewer has been unable to access Ching lol
This is great honor that I take very seriously.
Refs #44, 45, and 46 don't cite the year.
Fixed
All sources are reputable, and all content is paraphrased from them


### Prose, grammar, etc.
#### Lead
A bit short, but looks mostly good. A few minor points.

His parents are included in the infobox. Unless they were relevant in their own right, I would suggest removing them.
Removed
Not necessary, but the one reference in the lead stands out a bit. I would suggest keeping the information in the lead, but also including it in the body, for example, the first paragraph of the section on his presidency could read something along the lines of, "Meléndez was inaugurated as President of El Salvador on 1 March 1919.[2] This would be the only political office he held in his life.[1]..." I'll let you decide if you wish to act on this.
Moved to the body
I would suggest changing, "Meléndez suppressed several coups against his rule. Meléndez was succeeded by Quiñónez (his Vice President) in 1923", to "Meléndez suppressed several coups against his rule. He was succeeded in 1923 by Quiñónez, who had served as his Vice President". Just to avoid using parenthesis, and to avoid repetition (two sentences in a row begin with "Meléndez"). Again, optional change.
Changed


#### Early life
Is anything more known about his family's background? Things like economic status. I'd assume they had some familial wealth. Similarly, do we know what his parents (or more specifically, his father) did for a living? This page and this one seem to describe Rafael Meléndez as a tailor. I'd include that, but it's your call.
I mentioned that his father was a tailor
Do we know if or where he attended school? I assume if that information was available to you, you'd have included it already, but I thought I'd check.
Can't find it
Because this section is so short, you might want to consider merging it with the "Personal life" section. Both cover familial matters. And without more knowledge of his early life, for all the reader knows until that section, Meléndez was born, then 40+ years later he becomes a presidential candidate. I assume he was focused on his agricultural business prior to politics, so combining the two sections might fill that gap. This merger is not mandatory; you may ignore this if you so choose.
I'd prefer to leave it separate


#### Early political career
No issues with "Entry to politics".
"On 21 December 1918, Carlos resigned as President as he suffered a stroke or heart attack ten days prior and Quiñónez succeeded him as provisional president." According to Ching (p. 248), contemporary sources refer to Carlos Meléndez's affliction as an "attack of paralysis". Ching says it was "probably a stroke or a heart attack". You might wish to reword it as "On 21 December 1918, Carlos resigned as President as he suffered a paralytic attack." If you say, "a stroke or heart attack", that may raise questions from the reader. Merely a suggestion.
Changed
Tomás García Palomo is referred to as just "Palomo" the next time he is brought up. Per Spanish naming customs, should he not be called "García Palomo" or simply "García"? He's also just called "Tomás Palomo" in the lead. This is more a question of clarification.
When a surname is very common like García, some Spanish people are referred to by their maternal surname so that they stand out. Palomo, as such, is usually referred to as Palomo rather than García. It's like how Salvador Sánchez Cerén is commonly known as Cerén, or Maximiliano Hernández Martínez is referred to as Martínez. Not relevant but its like people say José de la Cruz "Porfirio Díaz" Mori or José "Daniel Ortega" Saavedra cuz the first name José is so common
The sheer number of Mexican presidents whose first names are actually "José" is both staggering and not surprising at all.
"Palomo dropped out of the race as he did not want to run against the incumbent president, and now that Quiñónez was provisional president, he was constitutionally prohibited from running in the election as he was in the office six months prior to the next presidential term." I'd suggest swapping the order of those two pieces of information. Firstly, Quiñónez being barred from running flows well from the previous sentence, and secondly, the sentence feels a bit run-on as is. "Now that Quiñónez was provisional president, he was constitutionally prohibited from running in the election as he was in the office six months prior to the next presidential term. Palomo also dropped out of the race as he did not want to run against the incumbent president."
Changed to your suggestion


#### President of El Salvador
You might want to consider briefly mentioning who created the Red League or when.
Specified it was created by Quiñónez to support his 1919 presidential campaign
"Corruption and embezzlement were common during Meléndez's presidency." You might want to give slightly more detail on this point, if possible, as it pertains to Meléndez. For example, was Meléndez himself personally accused of involvement in corruption?
Reworded to clarify he turned a blind eye to it
"In 1919, Meléndez suspended wages of the Salvadoran Army and the National Guard to address an economy crisis..." Should be "economic crisis".
Concerning the above note, is this economic crisis connected to the Recession of 1920–1921? Or are they separate? This is a clarification question for my sake and doesn't necessarily require an alteration to the article unless you feel it's necessary.
It was that recession. I reworded it.
"Throughout Meléndez's presidency, army pay was frequently suspended, or when it was paid, it was not paid in full." Might be better as "Throughout Meléndez's presidency, army pay was frequently suspended, and when it was paid, it was not paid in full."
Reworded to that
I suggest mentioning which countries were members of the Federation of Central America.
Mentioned
"The union collapsed in December 1921 after a coup d'état in Guatemala." Link 1921 Guatemalan presidential election, since that seems to be the best article that pertains to this event.
That's a different event, not the coup itself


#### Post-presidency and death
"Meléndez left office on 1 March 1923 and was succeeded by Quiñónez who unanimously won the 1923 presidential election.[34]" The cited source (Ching 1997, p. 280) doesn't include that date, just that Quiñónez became president after the 1923 election. You need another source for the end date. Once again, this page includes the date, although you don't need to use it.
Used Leistenschneider & Leistenschneider 1980, p. 179, from which Casapres excerpts from
Did Meléndez do anything notable during the 1923 election? That might be worth including.
Added that he banned political rallies
For the Christmas Day Massacre, do we know if Meléndez and/or Quiñónez ordered the it, or if it just happened and they went along with it?
Unclear, but he offered a toast to it a year later according to the US ambassador. added that
On the topic of the massacre, on that article, it says that Meléndez implemented a state of emergency and banned political parties. This should probably be included in this article as well.
added that
"Meléndez, the coup's primary organizer, recruited several allies to executed the coup and raised an army of 500 militiamen at his Valencia hacienda." "Executed" should be "execute".
"Carmona was supposed to be involved in the coup but denied any knowledge of such a junta existing. Aberle and Noguera surrendered but later told Romero himself that he was overthrown and offered him safe passage out of El Salvador." I'm confused here about who did what and what exactly Romero was told. If I understand Ching correctly, Aberle and Noguera surrendered, but then gave Romero an ultimatum to resign in exchange for safe passage out of the country. Is that right? If so, I'd rephrase that, and drop "himself", and possibly change "he was overthrown" to "he was "being overthrown", or something similar.
Reworded it
According to Ching (p. 311), Meléndez subsequently invested in the sugar industry after fleeing to Costa Rica. This might be worth including.
Added that
Do we know when Meléndez returned to El Salvador? And do we know what he died of?
No to both


#### Personal life
According to this source, Meléndez's son Jorge died young. Not mandatory information, but might be worth including.
"American agronomist described Meléndez as a "very wealthy man with all sorts of activities going on"." What's the agronomist's name?
Fixed, Frederick William Taylor (link to Frederick William Taylor is *not* him)
"Meléndez was a pragmatic liberal." This is a one-sentence paragraph and doesn't particularly fit with the rest of the information in this section. I propose making this the first sentence in the subsection "Social and economic policies". As in, "Meléndez was a pragmatic liberal. Before becoming president, Meléndez promised to allowed trade unions to organize. This did..." I think it explains his social and economic outlook, and contrasts well with the later mentioned idea of socialism becoming popular among Salvadoran workers.
Moved
You mention earlier in the article that Quiñónez was Meléndez's brother-in-law, but you don't say how. My aforementioned favorite source says that he was married to Leonor, Meléndez's sister. This might be worth including in this section, particularly if you merge it with the "Early life" section.
Worked this into the article


#### Electoral history
In the 1919 election, was Romero Meléndez's main opponent? I suppose since he got more votes than Araujo that makes sense, but you might want to include Araujo's votes since he was the reason Romero became involved at all.
I added Araujo


### Overall
Stable, no ongoing edit wars.
Article has a neutral tone.
Everything is referenced (with one exception mentioned above).
Sources that I can access are reliable.
Covers the subject in about as much depth as can be expected.
Categories are fine.
Overall, a very good article. This was a fun read. I'll put this on hold to allow you to address my quibbles, and once those are dealt with, I can pass the article. – ThaddeusOrlando55 (talk) 12:18, 22 October 2025 (UTC)

I went ahead and took care of the typos I could find.
GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)

It is reasonably well written.
a. (prose, spelling, and grammar): 

b. (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists): 

It is factually accurate and verifiable.
a. (reference section): 

b. (citations to reliable sources): 

c. (OR): 

d. (copyvio and plagiarism): 

It is broad in its coverage.
a. (major aspects): 

b. (focused): 

It follows the neutral point of view policy.
Fair representation without bias: 

It is stable.
No edit wars, etc.: 

It is illustrated by images and other media, where possible and appropriate.
a. (images are tagged and non-free content have non-free use rationales): 

b. (appropriate use with suitable captions): 

Overall:
Pass/fail: 
@PizzaKing13: The article now meets the Good Article criteria and I have passed it accordingly. Congratulations on another successful GA about a Salvadoran president. I look forward to reading that Meléndez–Quiñónez dynasty Good Topic when it is finished.