DBWI: AH Challange: Cuba doesn't become a US State

Think there was another thread on this. Once found a site which talked about Spain during the US Civil War. That site mentioned that decades before the US Civil War the US was pestering Spain for Cuba. They wanted to buy Cuba and even some US politicians talked about taking Cuba by force from Spain.

Found the site titled "Spain and the American Civil War". Really informative.

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/civil-war-cubans/US-Civil-War-Spain.pdf

And it would be easy to keep Cuba out of the US. Most people in Cuba had fought hard for there liberation to just give it all up to another nation. And it has been said that without US intervention they would have stilled become independent. It just would just probably have taken a little more time.

When the United States invaded Cuba, it did so without allying with the Cubans. The U.S. propaganda machine turned out stories of the Americans going to rescue the Cubans. In truth, the Cubans did not need saving; already they had nearly won the conflict. The U.S. government proceeded without regard for Cuban interests. The United States pursued such tactics because if it had allied with the Cubans, the United States would have been forced to give diplomatic recognition to Cuba.
@Dan1988 - You are right it would be easy for you to have PR. become independent by just having the 1868 insurrection succeed.
 
WHAT??? NO SUGAR KINGS BASEBALL????

The best team in the majors since they started in '69?*

It's ASB.


*The old triple A Sugar Kings started in '46, they moved to Tampa when expansion brought the MLB Sugar Kings to Havana in '69.

Or it could be Sugar Kings BC. :D Seriously, balompié (what we call soccer in English) could probably be just as successful in Cuba as it is now. Is it no wonder that the best American soccer players are Cuban?
 
@Dan1988 - You are right it would be easy for you to have PR. become independent by just having the 1868 insurrection succeed.

True, but my POD is more towards a successful English invasion - IIRC, there was an attempt in 1595 by Sir Francis Drake to take San Juan, but he failed spectacularly. If that invasion was successful in TTL, things could have been completely different.

OOC: It's true. :D Part of my plan for my mega-TL.
 
You could have European influence without having Cuba turn into an ally against the US if Cuba was independent - heck, at this point, the Mexicans, the British, the Canadians, and the French would be the countries most willing to exert some influence on Cuba without having Cuba turn against the US since by this point the British and French were not really into colonizing any more of the Caribbean than what they already had, the Canadians were dead-set against colonizing any part of the Caribbean, and the Mexicans were becoming the dominant economic power in Latin America (alongside the US). If they could exert some influence over the Cuba whilst Cuba remained American, then how could they not exert some influence over Cuba if Cuba was independent? All that without nixing the Monroe Doctrine, and perfectly plausible.

OOC: Argentina was the top dog economically in Latin America pretty deep in to the 20th century, Cuba being American wouldn't change that.

Or it could be Sugar Kings BC. :D Seriously, balompié (what we call soccer in English) could probably be just as successful in Cuba as it is now. Is it no wonder that the best American soccer players are Cuban?
You know, I hadn't thought of this. The US wouldn't win the '94 World Cup for one...

Between the Castros and the Muñozes, I'd prefer the latter - at least they are pragmatic and realistic. Who, honestly, could not forget the GOP's own Luis Muñoz Marín and his work in helping to lift many out of poverty, including those in his native Puerto Rico? Maybe w/o the Castro dynasty, the Muñoz dynasty would become more important?

Well, Muñoz would never have made it as far without the Castros paving the way. If you get rid of the Castros two terms (1960-1968), you certainly won't have Muñoz winning in 1968. I still think that Fidel* is treated a bit unfairly by some historians: yes, his build-up of troops in Viêt-Nam led to thousands of death against the Communard-backed government of Saigon, but these same historians probably supported the "fight against communard expansion".
 
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OOC: Argentina was the top dog economically in Latin America pretty deep in to the 20th century, Cuba being American wouldn't change that.

OOC: Sorry - my mistake. I was thinking "Central America/Caribbean", which makes sense in a way.

You know, I hadn't thought of this. The US wouldn't win the '94 World Cup for one...

Imagine the howling over that one?

Well, Muñoz would never have made it as far without the Castros paving the way. If you get rid of the Castros two terms (1960-1968), you certainly won't have Muñoz winning in 1968. I still think that Fidel* is treated a bit unfairly by some historians: yes, his build-up of troops in Viêt-Nam led to thousands of death against the Communard-backed government of Saigon, but these same historians probably supported the "fight against communard expansion".

That could be true, in a way, but Luis Muñoz Marín didn't cite the Castros as being the "trend-setters" - he thought he was (probably mimicking the father, Luis Muñoz Rivera). It would be more difficult for Luis Muñoz Marín to got as far as he did w/o the Castros, but it would certainly be possible (he would've been already popular in Puerto Rico based on name recognition alone).
 
What if you add extra baggage to Cuba? Give the island so many problems that the United States will not want to annex it.

Of course then that Cuba will be much different than the one we know. You will end up with an unidentifiable Cuban culture. No movie industry, no Castro dynasty, no space center, etc.
 
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