Beyonce and Jay-Z Visit Cuba Evoking Bonnie & Clyde
Beyonce and Jay-Z marked their fifth wedding anniversary in Havana despite the fact that the U.S. embargo with Cuba makes it illegal for Americans to visit as tourists.
Multimillion dollar power couple Beyoncé and husband Jay Z apparently did not break the law when they traveled to Cuba last week.
Their visit, which coincided with their five-year wedding anniversary, was licensed by the U.S. Treasury Department, a source told Reuters. The wire news service said Beyoncé and Jay Z did not violate travel restrictions to Cuba.
Over the weekend, the power couple was under heat as lawmakers questioned the legality of their trip. U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart, both Republicans from South Florida, were outraged after learning the power couple vacationed in Cuba – and suggested the two flouted U.S. laws.
"The restrictions on tourism travel are commonsense measures meant to prevent U.S. dollars from supporting a murderous regime that opposes U.S. security interests at every turn and which ruthlessly suppresses the most basic liberties of speech, assembly and belief," the lawmakers wrote.
Beyoncé and Jay Z have not gone public with details on how they got to Cuba and their rep has kept mum about the trip.
U.S. citizens are not allowed to travel to Cuba for mere tourism, though they can obtain licenses for academic, religious, journalistic or cultural exchange trips. The so-called people-to-people licenses were reinstated under the Obama administration and are designed to help promote civil society and independence from Cuban authorities.
The U.S. government tightened requirements to obtain the licenses last year after Cuban-American Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., criticized the programs as cover-ups for tourism. Rubio derided groups that were granted licenses for activities such as salsa dancing and a trip to the Cuban Ministry of Culture.
The U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued new requirements last May that required travel operators to provide detailed information on every aspect of their trip.
On Monday, Rubio tweeted that if Jay-Z really wanted to know what Cuban life is like, he should have visited dissident rapper Angel Yunier Remon. Rubio closed his tweet with the hashtag "99problems&dictatorsareone," a reference to Jay-Z's song "99 Problems."
During the R&B power couple's trip to Cuba, they ate at the renowned, privately run La Guarida restaurant and toured colonial Old Havana. They were followed by bodyguards and fans. Beyonce posed for photos with schoolchildren while Jay-Z puffed on a Cuban cigar.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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