Talk:Nicaragua/Archive4

Infrastructure

I think we need to add and infrastructure section (i.e., rail, roadways, ports, power, refineries, airports, etc...) Anybody disagree?--Agrofe 16:59, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

Departments and municipalities

Does anyone know exactly how many municipalities are in Nicaragua? I get different numbers when i google it. Some say Nicaragua has 17 departments with 140 municipalities, other say 17 departments with 143 municipalities. Anyone know?  LaNicoya  •TALK• 22:21, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

Never mind, a current news article on La Prensa mentioned there are 153 municipalities.  LaNicoya  •TALK• 07:46, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

Thoughts on archiving this talk page

This talk page is very very long, almost 3 times as long as the previous archives. A fellow contributor pointed out the Help:Archiving a talk page and it mentioned the best way to find out when to archive a talk page is made according to the Wikipedia policy of consensus among the editors. So does anyone think it is time to archive? Are there any previous discussions that should stay on the talk page? Any thoughts are welcomed.  LaNicoya  •TALK• 07:46, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

Lets archive topics that are older than some measure, say, one month? Brusegadi 07:47, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

Sounds good. Anymore suggestions/thoughts from anyone? I'll archive on Thursday to give it a bit more time.  LaNicoya  •TALK• 02:40, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

Extended until Saturday, Archiving is done. I left any sections that has a response up to a month ago.  LaNicoya  •TALK• 04:16, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Um, the 80s?

Am I crazy or do we go from Somoza's assassination in 1980 straight to the 1990 elections? I recall a couple important things going on during the decade in between--contras and some nastiness from Ronald Reagan accusing the Sandinistas of providing aid to the FMLN in El Salvador. Could someone who knows better than me please fill in some details please? --WH —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.86.136.211 (talk) 15:36, August 20, 2007 (UTC)

I know right? Its all on the main History of Nicaragua page but it needs to be included here, it was a major part of Nicaragua that has shaped it today. I'm trying to work on maybe shortening each section of the main history of nicaragua page to two paragraphs for the History section here but its hard. It would be nice for it to look sort of like Colombia's history section. -- LaNicoya  •Talk•  23:29, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

I did what i could, the new sections need to be copy-edited, some info added, some removed, ect. I'll work on finding sources. Hopefully if other editors pitch in we can have the page neutral without pov. -- LaNicoya  •Talk•  02:38, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Balance Tag

I am removing the balance tag. I see some little things in the article that might be called "unbalanced" by some by I really do not see the need for the tag. In addition, there has been no discussion on the talk page about what would have to be done to remove the tag. So, since there is no discussion and no major reason to have the tag in place, I will go ahead and assume that someone just forgot to remove it. Thank you, Brusegadi 01:11, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

Laughable. I see that Brusegadi has been busy adding back the Left's spin to this article while removing dissenting views. He accused me of not only violating NPOV but also of "vandalism" when I earlier noted that the false claim by Senator Kerry that the CIA was running drugs to support the Contras was a political accusation, but sees no NPOV problems with the original repeated references in this article to those bold-faced lies. I guess an article is "balanced" if it includes any lie that supports the left, and "unbalanced" if someone notes that those lies are disputed.

I urge all to compare my changes and decide if it is malicious "vandalism" or actually an attempt to introduce more balance, by noting that some of what is claimed is in dispute and highly political. In fact the serious charge of "vandalism" when not appropriate is in itself a heavy-handed tactic to silence dissenting views. 98.199.74.31 02:38, 8 September 2007 (UTC) 98.199.74.31

I have not made any significant edits to this article other than reverting obvious vandalism (such as this and this) and removing the tag that had been left there. Can you point to one of this edits. Give me a recent dif and I'll be happy. If you cant find one, thought, I suggest you be more careful when accusing people. Brusegadi 02:29, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Not sure what the term "dif" means, could you spell it out? As to pointing to one of the edits, sure:

03:45, 4 September 2007 Brusegadi (Talk | contribs) (87,335 bytes) (Reverted 2 edits by 98.199.74.31 to last revision by LaNicoya; POV pushing. using TW)

Made within minutes of my original edit on Sept 4th, similar to your response within minutes to my post on this "discussion" page. Do you hover over this article?

And what exactly is "obvious vandalism?" That I added the qualifier "politically-motivated conclusion" to the statement that a Democrat investigative panel made the (unsubstantiated) accusation the Republican executive branch had used the CIA to illegally import drugs to the US? Had that been proven the President would have been impeached, so clearly there is a political aspect to the accusation. That I changed "Panama's drug lord" to "Panama's dictator?" The latter is not a flattering term, but it does denote that he was the country's ruler at the time. More accurate, but it also isn't a term that aids the conspiracy theory as easily as "drug lord." That I changed "continued to stir controversy" to the more specific and accurate "was a source for political attacks by the US Left?" That adds more info to those not familiar with US politics in the 80's, and the Contra issue was a very stark left/right divide. That I changed the term "linked" to "attempted to link" to the charge made by a book author that the CIA introduced crack cocaine into California? Since such a conspiracy has never come close to being proven and highly controversial, wouldn't it violate NPOV to leave it as is? OK, that's just halfway through, need I waste space going over the rest? Is there a way to appeal to other Wiki editors? It is one thing to be of the opinion that NPOV has or has not been violated, but to accuse me of "obvious vandalism" is overkill and serious, since it can lead to banning. Hence my vigorous defense. 98.199.74.31 03:05, 8 September 2007 (UTC)98.199.74.31|98.199.74.31

Ok, here are your changes. In particular, I like the part where you change 'concluded' to 'made the politically-motivated accusation.' Please read WP:NPOV and WP:ATT. Again, also read WP:AGF. Have a good day, Brusegadi 02:48, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

I see that there was a response while I was typing, so some questions have been answered and all can easily follow the link he kindly provided to see what is in dispute. Thanks for allowing me to defend against the charge of "vandalism." 98.199.74.31 03:11, 8 September 2007 (UTC)98.199.74.31

"That I added the qualifier "politically-motivated conclusion" to the statement" - Yes, such qualifiers should not be added without a proper reliable source. One edit like that alone would be reverted in good faith. Yet, we both know that you have more experience here then your edit history shows so you KNOW better than adding spin. Saying that the 'left' did this or the 'right' did this is not ok without proper reliable sources. The one place where it seems you have a point is on the drug-lord dictator change. I think your that change is necessary, unless the term "drug-lord" can be attibuted to a reliable source. I will see if it is. If it is, I will leave it; otherwise I will change it for dictator. Ciao, Brusegadi 03:21, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Concerning what has helped or not helped the economy

Hello, I removed the statement "The reduction in inflation, economic growth and privatization has not helped with Nicaragua's many social issues." Just because certain policies where implemented and nothing happened does not mean that we can tell if the polices themselves had a good effect, a bad effect, or no effect. The policies could have had a good effect but the effects where overwhelmed by the negative effects of other things such as corruption. I recommend leaving that statement out since it is highly political/ideological. Many people disagree about the effectiveness of such policies. There is also the question of whether the policies were truly implemented (it could be that privatization was not done through a mechanism that seeks efficiency but through one that seeks profits for the friends and family of government...) So, lets stick to the numbers and lets leave out speculation. Ciao, Brusegadi 19:56, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

The Hague

Do you think we should add stuff about the recent resolution in The Hague about the ocean frontier between Nicaragua and Honduras? Thanks, Brusegadi 04:32, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Considering it took the ICJ 8 years to set a valid maritime border i think it should be briefly mentioned here going into specifics in the Territorial disputes of Nicaragua article. -- LaNicoya  •Talk•  04:46, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Original Research

So I just wrote my senior thesis on the foreign policy orientation of Nicaragua. Most of it is well sourced, but if I wanted to use quotes from my own researched sections (which is unpublished) could I simply put my research somewhere on the web and link to it, or is that insufficient? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.5.42.186 (talk) 11:00, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

Insufficient. We need reliable sources, as such, it's unlikely your thesis has undergone peer review since you've only recently completed it. El_C 11:06, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

The speed with which you have responded is somewhat scary, hehe. So, a fundamental problem with that is that a senior thesis is an unlikely piece of work to receive peer review, although agreed it would be nice. Yet, the thesis may contain some valid points to consider. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.5.42.186 (talk) 11:10, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

It may, you never know (I'm trying to be encouraging here!). It may well be valid, but it needs to be accepted elsewhere before it is added to Wikipedia (i.e. it cannot get its exposure here, it must enjoy some scholarly acceptance elsewhere). El_C 11:15, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

Let me offer a somewhat different take. If the student is willing to contribute his own text to the Wikipedia under the appropriate license (if the existing terms of his senior thesis allow this), and the text he or she provides comes complete with references up to the existing Wikipedia standards (in practice, somewhat of a double standard as the vast majority of articles presently fall short), and the style of prose is suitably encyclopedic, then there is no reason selected textual fragments could not be contributed. However, the senior thesis would not itself count as a valid reference, so the selections would need to be carefully chosen. I encourage contribution if material up to these standards exists. MaxEnt 23:46, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

Hi again, I registered, but I am the student that started this discussion. I am going to look at my options for publishing the paper, but will also take MaxEnt's suggestion of looking for highly relevant pieces of information that are well sourced which could be put in to increase the knowledge of this particular wiki. I'm sure if they are found to be not up to par then someone will take them out. Thanks for your input. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Anarchman (talk • contribs) 08:18, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Synthetic cotton

In 1976, a synthetic brand of cotton, which was one of Nicaragua's economic pillars, was developed. This caused the price of cotton to decrease, placing the economy in great trouble.

From http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4420099.html

Recently synthetic cotton materials have been developed which permit the generation of an aseptic cotton substitute upon demand.

I can find no other reference to synthetic cotton, and my edits to cotton place the impact of polyester a decade earlier. MaxEnt 23:46, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

Overthrown

... and the de facto military dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989 when quoi? was overthrown and [he was?] captured by a U.S. invading force. MaxEnt 00:10, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Error in literature section

Hi,

"Nicaraguan literature has historically been an important source of poetry in the Spanish-speaking world, with internationally renowned contributors such as Rubén Darío who is regarded as the most important literary figure in Nicaragua, referred to as the "Father of Modernism" for leading the modernismo literary movement at the end of the 19th century.[80] Also included in this group are writers Ernesto Cardenal, Gioconda Belli, and Jose Coronel Urtecho."

I think that this paragraph is quite misleading. I can't claim to be an expert in Nica Literature, but I don't think that Ernesto Cardenal and Gioconda Belli are part of the same movement as Ruben Dario. Dario wrote at the end of the 19th century. Cardenal and Belli are still alive. Anyone with more knowledge on this? 68.163.135.123 10:19, 9 November 2007 (UTC) Nuria

Hi Nuria, i can see how that is misleading as none of those writers were alive at the time Dario was. I'll change it to read so that it says: "Other literary figures include Ernesto Cardenal, ect. ect.". -- LaNicoya  •Talk•  13:30, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Correct, they are not modernist; so should not be included with Dario. Brusegadi 21:47, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Ometepe

Aunque Ometepe es una isla que me fascina, no estoy tan seguro que sea la isla volcánica (en un lago de agua dulce) más grande del mundo. Creo que la Isla Royale en el Lago Superior es más grande, pues tiene 45 millas de largo por 9 de ancho según puede leerse en http://www.shannontech.com/ParkVision/IsleRoyale/IsleRoyale.html a ver quien quiere revisar esto

This page states that Ometepe is "the largest fresh-water volcanic island in the world", not the largest volcanic island in the world. -- LaNicoya  •Talk•  12:39, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Bueno, el Lago Superior es un lago de agua dulce (freshwater lake). Saludos ----

A Visit to Nicaragua

I will be going to Nicaragua in the near future with a group of optometrists. We are going to set up clinics and give free eye exams and eyeglasses to the Nicaraguans. I know only a very little bit of Spanish; I am about one half through a first year Spanish book for high school. Are there any important things that I should know when visiting Nicaragua and being in close contact with the people? I want to do the best job that I can. Thank you in advance for any good advice! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.24.10.168 (talk) 21:45, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

Sandino didn't force anybody!

"The revolt finally forced the United States to compromise and leave the country"

POV and untrue. The marines left only after the election results. Sandino had suffered defeat after defeat. The only problem they had was capturing him. He didn't force out anybody. This should be changed —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.227.208.156 (talk) 21:37, 2 December 2007 (UTC)