Plausibility Check and Background Help: Governor Castro

Hi, Im in the process of writing a story/history thang set in the late 1960's in a Cuba that is part of the United States, with Fidel Castro as a radical, corrupt Long-style Governor.

First of all, based on my limited readings Castro was up for a parliament seat in 1952 before Batista's coup. As a young, firebrand attorney he set about trying to get a case before the courts declaring the coup illegal, not so surprisingly the new regime refused to allow it, from there Castro decided on revolutionary methods.

Also reading interviews and statements from former collegues/activists from his college days and the Revolution they stated he was very much a "things would be better under me" kinda guy, with ideology playing only a secondary role in his politics. This is quite obvious in his switiching of Nasser style left-wing nationalism for full blown Communism in 1965, as well as efforts to court the Catholic Church.

From this I believe Castro would have been quite happy to join a mainstream party (I'd say Democrat both for liberal/big labour leanings at the time and a Republican Castro seems too ironic in a Turtledove way) if he saw the chance for power. I'd like to know what people think on this though, if anyone has more understanding of his views and methods.

Now... How does Cuba become part of the USA? I was thinking quite simply for them to keep it after the Spanish-American War, finally turning in into a full-blown state in the 1930's. However America always had a keen interest in owning the "Jewel of the Antilles" so would an earlier POD work better since the SAW was fought on the basis of helping nationalists liberate Cuba. I'm not too sure how sincere this was though so any help is appreciated. Alternatively offers were made to buy the island as early as the 1850s, would this lead ot a more natural creation of statehood for Cuba, as there's no fully-fledged national liberation to side-step?

So basically two things I would REALLY appreciate help with:

1) Castro: a plausible Governor?
2) POD for Cuban statehood
 
Castro's parents were galician immigrants who settled in Cuba in the 1920's. If Cuba belongs to the US, they would probably choose Argentina or Mexico to go.
 
Any particular reason? Its not like the US didn't have sway over Cuba in OTL

Because if you are a poor peasant from a backwards region in Spain, you'd rather go to a place where spanish is the main language, especially when dealing with government officials. Florida has the same weather than Cuba and a sizeable hispanic population, but it never had the amount of spanish immigration Cuba had in OTL during the early 20th century.
 
Because if you are a poor peasant from a backwards region in Spain, you'd rather go to a place where spanish is the main language, especially when dealing with government officials. Florida has the same weather than Cuba and a sizeable hispanic population, but it never had the amount of spanish immigration Cuba had in OTL during the early 20th century.

Florida also had a large Anglo population due to over a century of being in the United States, Cuba would still be Hispanic dominated by a long way, and since there's no official language in America, Spanish would be spoken by authorities
 

Hnau

Banned
Spanish would be the main language of a Cuban state for quite a while, be sure of that.

According to my hard-set opinion on the nature of the butterfly effect, the POD must take place after November 1925, or Fidel Castro would never be born. Even then, Castro may develop into a different individual if conditions were different enough, but I have less firm of an opinion on the nature vs. nurture argument.

With a post-1925 point of divergence, the task of making Cuba a new American state will be quite the difficult one. There is no easy answer. In a short time frame (before 1933) you must A) turn the resentment of American power to popular respect for the American nation B) put a demagogue into office that is willing to negotiate for admission into the United States and C) keep rebels from overthrowing the American government once it is imposed on the island.

I would get rid of Machado somehow as soon as possible. His despotism only made socialism and communism more popular in Cuba. You might also want to get an American president elected that will be at least soft on Latin American policies, though it couldn't hurt to make him outright expansionist. You'll need that kind of crazy to make this work. That's all I've got, really... good luck!

By the way, the most plausible way for the United States to annex Cuba historically would be some use of the Ostend Plot in 1854 or a short time later. The news is never leaked, no one reads the statements by certain diplomats that it was an opportunity to extend slavery. Some shipping incident causes tensions between Spain and the US. America offers Spain $120 million for Cuba, demanding that the island was "a complete necessity for the security and well-being of our Republic". I assume Spain takes her chances and the two countries go to war. The second most plausible way is to have the US Occupation of Cuba following the Spanish American War be more benign, with no outright immediate domination of American corporations, the ruthless buying up of ruined Cuban lands, and the aggressive use of tariffs to ensure America an economic advantage in Cuba. During the Constitutional Assembly in 1902, in OTL there was a vote on whether Cuba should declare its intention to become a state. In this timeline, there might be enough votes to pass such a measure (more possibly if the US specifically manipulates the assembly). Cuba could become a state by 1905.
 
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During the Constitutional Assembly in 1902, in OTL there was a vote on whether Cuba should declare its intention to become a state. In this timeline, there might be enough votes to pass such a measure (more possibly if the US specifically manipulates the assembly). Cuba could become a state by 1905.

After at least 3 wars made by the Cubans in support of independence, and every Cuban politician and military figure thinking that just mention of the word "annexation" would destroy their careers, if not make them fair game for local sharpshooters?

Heck, the only way to have Cuba in the US at his point (any point, I would say, though there could be a small window of oportunity before the 1850s) is by force. And an occupation and invasion by force would just turn the island into a Caribbean Philippines. This is not Puerto Rico a.k.a We-don't-care-who-governs-aside-a-small-minority-in-San-Juan.

And the other main rock in the challenge presented here is the fact of Castro probably being one of the most butterflyable persons of OTL, as he is the illegitimate son of a Spanish soldier that was sent there in 1895 to put down the revolt, returned to Spain and then, not finding any work in Spain went back again to Cuba in 1905; and of the teenage daughter of one of Castro Sr.'s maids, also an inmigrant from Spain. The whole set of pieces that allowed our Castro to being just conceived was so numerous, so big and so unlikely that the smallest POD just some years before his OTL birth could butterfly him away whithout any difficulty. Not to mention the thousands of possible roads later that coul have kept him apart from politics.

So, in essence:
- US State of Cuba requires an early POD.
- Fidel Castro being born at all requires a recent POD.
- Each POD rules out the other.

TLs out there with an American politician Fidel Castro, our very same Fidel Castro in the rest, from the US state of Cuba, are fairly numerous but none of them makes any sense. Heh, even his first name was chosen to honour one of the friends his father made at work...
 

Hnau

Banned
Nothing is out of the realms of possibility. You just have to get very, very creative. Set up some bogeyman the Cubans fear more than the Americans, for example.
 
TLs out there with an American politician Fidel Castro, our very same Fidel Castro in the rest, from the US state of Cuba, are fairly numerous but none of them makes any sense. Heh, even his first name was chosen to honour one of the friends his father made at work...

Could point me in the direction of any could you? :D
 
..... During the Constitutional Assembly in 1902, in OTL there was a vote on whether Cuba should declare its intention to become a state. In this timeline, there might be enough votes to pass such a measure (more possibly if the US specifically manipulates the assembly). Cuba could become a state by 1905.

Interesting, do you have any more info on that Hnau? Or could you point me to more information about that vote?
 

Hnau

Banned
I know a vote was taken on the subject, but not how many was for or against, or when they actually put that to the decision of the assembly. Google "Constituent Assembly" and "Cuba"... I'll try to find my source in a little while.

Meanwhile, I did find this: http://www.historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=400
Apparently, there was support in Cuba for its annexation by the United States along with other Spanish possessions, but the problem was with the population of the United States, who did not like the fact that one-third of Cuba was black. I guess you might just have to go back to the 1850s in order for Cuba to become a state, unless maybe you invent some new Great Man instead of McKinley who is even more of a rabid (but capable) expansionist that turns the New Imperialism of the turn of the century into a full-fledged Second Manifest Destiny. Hmmm...
 
Castro's father might be a good candidate for a corrupt governor, as according to a bio of Castro, he was fond of monkeying with the boundary markers on his land to snag some of his neighbors.
 
I know a vote was taken on the subject, but not how many was for or against, or when they actually put that to the decision of the assembly. Google "Constituent Assembly" and "Cuba"... I'll try to find my source in a little while.

Meanwhile, I did find this: http://www.historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=400
Apparently, there was support in Cuba for its annexation by the United States along with other Spanish possessions, but the problem was with the population of the United States, who did not like the fact that one-third of Cuba was black. I guess you might just have to go back to the 1850s in order for Cuba to become a state, unless maybe you invent some new Great Man instead of McKinley who is even more of a rabid (but capable) expansionist that turns the New Imperialism of the turn of the century into a full-fledged Second Manifest Destiny. Hmmm...

Thanks, I look forward to your source.

It certainly looks unlikely for Cuba to become a State in 1900-1905 due to American attitudes to race at the time, but it could certainly become a Territory. The fact that most of the Filipino population was well....Filipino and thus not white didn't stop the US from annexing it as a territory. And Puerto Rico became a territory, although I'm not sure if its racial makeup at the time was like Cuba's or not.

If Cuba was annexed in the 1850s it would be rushed through the territorial phase in order to become a state as the southern slave states would want to add to their number (which would probably mean some other territory in the north of the country becomes a state to compensate as per usual). In the 1850s slavery was still legal in Cuba so Americans (especially southern Americans) would view having a third of the population as black (slaves) as an assest.

Having Cuba as a territory or state (both are run by Governors so Castro could be governor of the territory of Cuba as well as the state of Cuba) presents a difficulty in also having Castro there, but I'm sure with enough imaginative skill someone can come up with a scenario where Castro is around (if not into politics) in a Cuba that might even have been annexed in the 1850s. It would just require changes in the personal choices of his ancestors to the point where they still meet at the right time. He could still be Castro, but his first name may not be Fidel. :)
 
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