Beyonce and Jay-Z Investigated After Wedding Anniversary Trip to Cuba?
Beyonce Knowles and her husband Jay-Z are reportedly being investigated after the pair took a recent trip to Havana, Cuba for their fifth wedding anniversary.
Knowles and Jay-Z, the singer and rapper respectively, reportedly took an interest in visiting Cuba after attending the release of the film "JR & José Parlá: The Wrinkles of the City, Havana, Cuba," at Miami's Art Basel, according to blogger Necole Kane. The film and accompanying book highlights murals in Havana that reportedly caught Knowles and Jay-Z's interest.
While the famed pair were greeted by fans during their trip to Cuba, U.S. Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart asked Adam Szubin, director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, for more information about the couple's trip, according to Reuters reports. The two Republican members of Congress specifically asked the U.S. Treasury Department for "information regarding the type of license that Beyoncé and Jay-Z received, for what purpose, and who approved such travel," according to Reuters.
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Ros-Lehtinen and Diaz-Balart are both representatives of south Florida districts with a high Cuban-American population. In their letter to the U.S. Treasury, the Republican congressman spoke about their constituency being deeply affected by things taking place in Cuba during the 50 years that the country has been ruled by the Castro family.
"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 letter from the two Republican congressmen said, according to USA Today reports. "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."
Jay-Z and Knowles have yet to comment on the investigation taking place, but the pair may be forced to pay a fine for their visit if they cannot prove that they were given special licenses to travel to Cuba during the longstanding U.S. trade embargo against the country.
