Cuba Embargo Debate Reignites After Beyoncé and Jay-Z Trip to Havana - ProCon.org
Beyoncé and Jay-Z traveled to Havana, Cuba for three days last week for their fifth wedding anniversary, angering some proponents of the Cuba embargo that was enacted on Feb. 7, 1962.
Travel to the island nation for the purpose of tourism is prohibited by the US government. The US Treasury Department approved the trip as a “people-to-people” cultural visit without knowing that the famous pair would be part of the twelve-person group. The cultural visit was approved through the non-profit Academic Arrangements Abroad, which stated that the couple received no special treatment. All twelve members of the party carried letters from Academic Arrangements Abroad and required affidavits stating they would not vary from the approved itinerary.
One year after the embargo was signed, on Feb. 8, 1963, all travel to Cuba was prohibited by the US government. People-to-people cultural visits were instituted by President Bill Clinton in 1995. President George Bush suspended the cultural visits and enacted harsher embargo restrictions and penalties, up to 10 years in prison and $1 million in fines for a violation. People-to-people visits were re-instated by President Barack Obama in 2011. Since then, more than 220 licenses have been granted to groups that organize trips for American citizens to Cuba. The organizations are required to submit itineraries and affidavits that the citizens on the trip will adhere to the itineraries to OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control).
Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s itinerary did not involve meetings with Cuban officials or activities such as beach trips. The couple toured Old Havana with an architecture historian and saw private performances by a children’s theater group, a contemporary dance company, and popular musicians and singers, including La Charanga Habanera, a popular timba dance band who has been barred from some Cuban venues and censored from state television for provocative lyrics and dancing….
