Deleted member 109224
The Canarreas Archipelago, which today belongs to Cuba, was for a short time of debated sovereignty. The Teller Amendment said that the United States would not annex the island of Cuba, but whether or not surrounding islands like the Canarreas Archipelago were covered by the amendment.
Ultimately the US negotiated the Hay-Quesada Treaty in 1904 and the Senate ratified it in 1925 which recognized the Archipelago as being Cuban. 400 Americans and American Companies owned 95% of the island when the treaty was ratified, and the island had something of a real estate boom comparable to the one in Southern Florida.
The islands today altogether have around 100,000 people (86,000 of whom are on the big island, the Isla de la Juventad which formerly was known as the Isle of Pines before the Cuban Revolution).
What if the United States had just kept the island, possibly paying the Cuban Government a pretty penny for it and giving Cubans special rights of transit, fishing, etc?
Many OTL Cuban emigre who went to Florida would probably go to the island TTL (if we put a butterfly net around things). There'd likely be a much larger American population on the island as well, with the real estate boom no tending. If more real estate is invested in the island, perhaps the Florida property bubble would be impacted.
Below the Canarreos Archipelago and Guantanamo Bay are marked off.
Ultimately the US negotiated the Hay-Quesada Treaty in 1904 and the Senate ratified it in 1925 which recognized the Archipelago as being Cuban. 400 Americans and American Companies owned 95% of the island when the treaty was ratified, and the island had something of a real estate boom comparable to the one in Southern Florida.
The islands today altogether have around 100,000 people (86,000 of whom are on the big island, the Isla de la Juventad which formerly was known as the Isle of Pines before the Cuban Revolution).
What if the United States had just kept the island, possibly paying the Cuban Government a pretty penny for it and giving Cubans special rights of transit, fishing, etc?
Many OTL Cuban emigre who went to Florida would probably go to the island TTL (if we put a butterfly net around things). There'd likely be a much larger American population on the island as well, with the real estate boom no tending. If more real estate is invested in the island, perhaps the Florida property bubble would be impacted.
Below the Canarreos Archipelago and Guantanamo Bay are marked off.