WI: Social Democratic Castro that's USSR aligned

[peeter]

I've been thinking about this lately and I'm not sure about the plausibility but let's say Castro identifies as a social democrat and rules with social democratic policies but due to staunch due to his staunch anti us imperialism beliefs aligns with the soviets and like OTL meddles in other countries . How much would this change? And would cuba’s economy be better equipped to do better than OTL after the soviet union’s fall?

 

[Paradoxer]

I've been thinking about this lately and I'm not sure about the plausibility but let's say Castro identifies as a social democrat and rules with social democratic policies but due to staunch due to his staunch anti us imperialism beliefs aligns with the soviets and like OTL meddles in other countries . How much would this change? And would cuba’s economy be better equipped to due better than OTL with the soviet union’s fall?

It would have allies and friends in Western Europe more so. They never really embargoed them as it is. How idealism by Castro by left might actually be more valid and less bias if he not sending homosexuals to camps and political prisoners but more smear campaigns and discrediting them in eyes of public.

 

[peeter]

It would have allies and friends in Western Europe more so. They never really embargoed them as it is. How idealism by Castro by left might actually be more valid and less bias if he not sending homosexuals to camps and political prisoners but more smear campaigns and discrediting them in eyes of public.

I wonder if this would make Castro even more dangerous to the United States foreign interests than OTL. The Cuban economy even before the Soviet Union’s collapse was never very good however it was held together by soviet aid. With Cuba being much more economically prosperous but still having strong revolutionary rhetoric I wonder if it would attract more south americans to the “socialist” cause. I'd imagine in this scenario Cuba would be have a more mercenary-client relationship with the ussr rather than a satellite state relationship