Treasury official: Trip by Beyonce, Jay-Z to Cuba licensed as educational exchange
Posted April 9, 2013 11:01 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MIAMI – U.S. Treasury officials say the trip by Beyonce and Jay-Z to Cuba was licensed as an educational exchange.
Assistant Treasury Secretary Alastair Fitzpayne wrote in a letter Tuesday to congressional representatives that the famous hip-hop couple travelled to Cuba with a group authorized by the Office of Foreign Assets Control to promote people-to-people contact in Cuba.
The letter was released Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
Ros-Lehtinen and U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, both Florida Republicans, had expressed concerns to the Treasury Department about the trip and wanted to know if it was licensed.
Beyonce and Jay-Z marked their fifth wedding anniversary in Havana last week. 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.
