[ElevenLathe]

The main reason Cuba was valuable to U.S. interests before the Revolution was as a playground for American vacationers. Las Vegas was basically spun up as a replacement Havana after the Revolution took it away from U.S. interests and jet air travel made Nevada a reasonable destination for well-heeled East Coasters.

I think something similar could be true today, and it doesn't require any natural resources beyond cheap labor, Caribbean weather, and an obedient government.

[RickJWagner]

Hot Springs, Arkansas was an alternative during that era.

The nations first national park anchored the attraction, complete with eponymous hot natural water baths. All the big celebrities of the day vacationed there ( alongside all the biggest gangsters, Al Capone included ) and professional baseball teams held spring training there.

Today, Hot Springs is still a pleasant place to visit, but it’s no longer a national draw.

[ElevenLathe]

Hot Sprints was pretty sad the last time I visited (more than 10 years ago now), but you could clearly see that it was once a ritzy place. One thing Havana had on Hot Springs was obviously that they could be open about liquor consumption during U.S. Prohibition (not that there was no booze available in a place like Hot Springs), and of course also the ability to bootleg liquor back to the U.S.

At the time of the Revolution, Cuba was effectively run by American East Coast mobsters and U.S. sugar, fruit, and tobacco interests. Security services like the relatively-new CIA got much more interested after it "fell" to communism, but were also part of the pre-Revolution power structure too -- as were the well-heeled Cuban oligarchs/capitalists/landowners who were dispossessed during the Revolution and decided to flee to Miami (and eventually produce our current Secretary of State)