Beyonce, Jay-Z Cuba visit had U.S. Treasury Department OK - source

Exclusive: Beyonce, Jay-Z Cuba visit had U.S. Treasury Department OK -
source
By David Adams
MIAMI | Tue Apr 9, 2013 12:06am EDT

(Reuters) - A visit by American pop star Beyonce and rapper husband
Jay-Z to Havana last week was a cultural trip that was fully licensed by
the U.S. Treasury Department, a source familiar with the itinerary said
on Monday.

The longstanding U.S. trade embargo against Cuba prevents most Americans
from traveling to the communist-led island without a license granted by
the U.S. government.

Three Cuban-American members of Congress, all Republicans from Miami and
supporters of a firm stance on Cuba, have asked the Treasury Department
to look into the licensing of the trip, prompting officials to seek more
information from the organizers.

Beyonce and Jay-Z celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary in Havana
and were greeted by big crowds as they strolled through the Cuban
capital. The music industry power couple were instantly recognized as
celebrities despite the past half-century of ideological conflict that
separates the two countries.


The source told Reuters that the trip included visits with Cuban artists
and musicians, as well as several nightclubs where live music was
performed, and some of the city's best privately run restaurants, known
as "paladares."

The visit was planned as a "people-to-people" cultural visit and
involved no meetings with Cuban officials, or typical tourist activity
such as trips to the beach, the source said. Even a walk around the Old
City of Havana, mobbed by crowds of excited Cuban spectators, was led by
Miguel Coyula, one of the city's leading architects.

Publicists for the couple did not return emails or phone calls seeking
comment.

Beyonce and Jay-Z were the latest American stars, joining actors Bill
Murray, Sean Penn and James Caan who have also visited the Caribbean
island in the past few years. But the pair were the first to cause such
a stir everywhere they went.

The couple arrived in Havana unannounced for a four-day visit on
Wednesday on a flight from Miami. But word of their presence spread like
wildfire, by text messaging and word of mouth.

Beyonce, who sang at President Barack Obama's inauguration for his
second term in January, was instantly recognized when she and Jay-Z, and
their mothers, dined at La Guarida, the city's top privately run
restaurant, on their first night.

The next day a crowd of several thousand people swarmed around them in
Old Havana during a walk-about.

They also visited a children's theater group and several clubs where
they heard live music, and occasionally took to the dance floor. On
Friday, they toured Cuba's top art school and met with some young artists.

GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA

U.S. Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart
questioned the couple's trip, saying it was being used for Cuban
government propaganda. Ros-Lehtinen, long a fierce critic of the Cuban
government, said it was "very disconcerting that these two mega stars
would go down to Cuba and vacation as if they were in a tropical
paradise and not say one word about the brutality their hosts display
against all pro democracy activists."

Florida Senator Marco Rubio said the Obama administration's cultural
exchange programs "have been abused by tourists."

If the Treasury Department had licensed the trip "the Obama
Administration should explain exactly how trips like these comply with
U.S. law and regulations governing travel to Cuba," Rubio said.

The Cuban government was unaware of the participants on the trip until
shortly before they departed for Cuba, the source told Reuters, adding
that the Cuban media made no official mention of the pair while they
were in Havana, at the request of the singers.

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which
handles licenses for travel to Cuba, said it does not comment on
individual cases.

OFAC provides licenses to visit Cuba on a case-by-case basis for
educational exchanges, and for programs that promote "people-to-people
contact" and "contribute to the development of civil society in Cuba,"
according to Treasury Department guidelines. Tourism is specifically
prohibited by the guidelines, it states.

"It's hard to imagine a more people-to-people contact visit than the
scenes witnessed last week on the streets of Havana with two of the
United States' biggest music stars wading through crowds of fans they
never knew they had," said John McAuliff, executive director for the
Fund for Reconciliation and Development, an organization working to
normalize U.S. relations with Cuba.

He described the couple's program as "characteristic of licensed trips
undertaken by thousands of Americans every year."

While it has kept the embargo in place, the Obama administration has
eased restrictions on travel to Cuba for academic, religious or cultural
programs.

"People-to-people" visits, first promoted under President Bill Clinton
in the 1990s, but reined in under President George W. Bush, have been
revived by the Obama administration to encourage more contact between
Americans and Cubans, separated by just 90 miles of ocean, but over half
a century of ideological differences.

A number of U.S. firms are sponsoring Cuba trips, ranging from National
Geographic to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to the American
Automobile Association, resulting in a steadily growing stream of
Americans to the island.

Only licensed travelers and Cuban-Americans visiting relatives on the
island are allowed to board special charter planes from Miami for the
50-minute flight to Cuba.

Some U.S. citizens dodge those requirements by traveling to Cuba via
third countries. Cuba does not stamp the passports of Americans who
visit Cuba, making it easy to avoid detection.

Criminal penalties for violating OFAC regulations range up to 10 years
in prison and $250,000 in individual fines.

(Additional reporting by Jeff Franks and Nelson Acosta in Havana;
Editing by Leslie Gevirtz, Frances Kerry and Vicki Allen)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/09/entertainment-us-usa-cuba-beyonce-idUSBRE93600V20130409