Antillean Confederation

-Cuba, Spanish Haiti, and Puerto Rico

Statistics

Name - Confederación de las Antillas (Spanish)


Head of state - Executive Council (collective)

Head of government - Executive Council for General Affairs ---------

Legislature - Conferencia

Judiciary - Confederal Audiencia

Form of government - Federal republic under a democratic directorial confidential government


Population -

Area -

Capital - San Juan (winter), Havana (summer), Santo Domingo (autumn)

Largest city - Havana

Language - Spanish

Time zone -

Currency - Antillean peso


Anthem -

Motto -

Government

The root of the Antillean Confederation ultimately comes from the island of Hispaniola, specifically from Spanish Haiti, its eastern half. Under Spanish rule, it was known as Santo Domingo, and after the western half saw a slave revolution in 1791, from 1795 onwards it became nominally French-ruled but in practice by the Governor-General of Saint-Domingue, Toussaint Louverture, a black man who rose himself from a state of slavery. From here, for the next half century, it was run from Port-Républicain; when Saint-Domingue declared its independence from France in 1823, due to both Britain and France being distracted by war with one another, the new Haitian Republic was able to keep control over the east. Despite the establishment of trade links, infrastructure between the two, and eastward migration of the cultural border between the two halves, the cultural distinctiveness of the Hispanic half was such that there continued to be an autonomist, federalist movement. The 1852 revolution saw such elements play an important role, and as a result the Constitution of 1852 established a legislative board for Spanish Haiti, indirectly elected by department councils. This board quickly possessed itself as if it was the legislature of a country, and due to the 1860s seeing a crisis in Haiti's other half over a collapse of coffee prices, it proved able to assert its independence. In 1871, it announced its formal independence as the Republic of Spanish Haiti, and fears of a Haitian invasion resulted in it cultivating links with the British. With its independence tenuous, there were many who sought to establish some sort of way to tie it to larger neighbours. Some proposals consisted of semi-autonomous colonial status, but as independentist activities on Cuba and Puerto Rico, both fellow Spanish-speaking societies, increased, and as revolutionaries used Spanish Haiti as a base, many talked of some sort of confederation between the three. In the 1880s, revolts sprung up across the Spanish Empire, and among them in Cuba and Puerto Rico, all the while Spanish Haiti was used by these revolutionaries as a base. Finally, in 1891, following threats of an international intervention, Spain recognized Cuban and Puerto Rican independence. But the ties established by the war of independence, and fears of a second invasion resulted in the 1893 ratification of a union of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Spanish Haiti as the "Antillean Confederation", under a common government. This government has lasted to this day, with only some changes.


The government of the Antillean Confederation consists of an executive council, a Conferencia, and a judiciary. The Executive Council of the Antillean Confederation consists of eight members, three of whom are appointed by the provinces of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Spanish Haiti each, and the remaining five of whom have tenure based on the confidence of the Conferencia. The five dependent on the Conferencia exercise the bulk of the actual power, while the three appointed by the provinces have a veto power each that is only occasionally exercised. The Conferencia is a much stronger institution; initially it merely consisted of delegates from the three provinces, but today it consists of 64 directly-elected delegates. These delegates are appointed degressively across the three provinces, thus ensuring that despite Cuba having nearly a majority of the Antillean Confederation's population, less than forty percent of Conferencia delegates are elected by Cubans. Finally, the judiciary, known as the Audiencia, consists of numerous benches and committees, and together it has successfully made itself the court of final appeal for all Antillean law over time.


Finally, to ensure no single province can dominate the whole confederation or be dominated by its government, all three branches of government rotate between Havana, Santo Domingo, and San Juan every four months. In practice, the Executive Councillor for the Exterior stays in Havana to liaise with the diplomatic missions located there, while numerous Audiencia benches run in circuit across all three islands, but formally their leadership rotates. This rotation is met with much ceremony and pomp, and furthermore there are many merchants who use this opportunity to travel between these cities along with the over two hundred thousand bureaucrats. To ease the transfer, government buildings, residences, and offices, were constructed to on the same plans; in practice, they have greatly diverged from one another. San Juan and, to a lesser extent, Santo Domingo, benefit greatly from this rotation, and for this it has become politically impossible to end this costly transfer of capitals.


Through this, the Antillean Confederation is tied together - a nation vast by Caribbean standards, unified through language, culture, and a common history.