Jay-Z and wife Beyonce Knowles's
trip to Cuba during their 5th wedding anniversary last week sparked
question, whether the couple violated any sanctions.
On Friday, April 5,
two Republican members of Congress for Florida Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and
Mario Diaz-Balart reportedly sent a letter to the Treasury Department's
Office of Foreign Assets Control to seek "information regarding the type
of license that Beyonce and Jay-Z received, for what purpose, and who
approved such travel."
In the alleged letter addressed to the authority, the two lawmakers wrote, "Cuba's tourism industry is wholly state-controlled; therefore, U.S. dollars spent on Cuban tourism directly fund the machinery of oppression that brutally represses the Cuban people." They added, "Despite the clear prohibition against tourism in Cuba, numerous press reports described the couple's trip as tourism, and the Castro regime touted it as such in its propaganda."
The two Congress members come from South Florida, where many Cuban-American live. "We represent a community of many who have been deeply and personally harmed by the Castro regime's atrocities, including former political prisoners and the families of murdered innocents," they wrote.
According to Reuters, the State Department said that they had no prior knowledge about the trip. A spokesperson at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana said that she did not know if the couple had license for their trip. If they did not have the required paperwork, Beyonce and husband might face fine.
Beyonce and Jay-Z spent their fifth wedding anniversary in Cuba last week. They had dinner in a fancy restaurant, took a walk in Old Havana and snapped pictures with local people despite U.S.' embargo to the country. The embargo prevents U.S. citizens from going to Cuba except for academic, religious or cultural exchanges.
In the alleged letter addressed to the authority, the two lawmakers wrote, "Cuba's tourism industry is wholly state-controlled; therefore, U.S. dollars spent on Cuban tourism directly fund the machinery of oppression that brutally represses the Cuban people." They added, "Despite the clear prohibition against tourism in Cuba, numerous press reports described the couple's trip as tourism, and the Castro regime touted it as such in its propaganda."
The two Congress members come from South Florida, where many Cuban-American live. "We represent a community of many who have been deeply and personally harmed by the Castro regime's atrocities, including former political prisoners and the families of murdered innocents," they wrote.
According to Reuters, the State Department said that they had no prior knowledge about the trip. A spokesperson at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana said that she did not know if the couple had license for their trip. If they did not have the required paperwork, Beyonce and husband might face fine.
Beyonce and Jay-Z spent their fifth wedding anniversary in Cuba last week. They had dinner in a fancy restaurant, took a walk in Old Havana and snapped pictures with local people despite U.S.' embargo to the country. The embargo prevents U.S. citizens from going to Cuba except for academic, religious or cultural exchanges.
Source: aceshowbiz
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