Beyoncé and Jay-Z spent part of last week in Havana, celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary by touring historical landmarks and speaking with what Agence France-Presse described as hundreds of Cuban well-wishers. The Havana Times reported that the couple also visited a dance troupe, Danza Contemporánea de Cuba, the singer Haila Mompié and the children’s theater group La Colmenita, and met with students and teachers at the Superior Art Institute. They may soon be explaining the trip to members of Congress, or facing a prison sentence and a fine. Treasury Department regulations prohibit Americans from traveling to Cuba “unless authorized by a general or specific license.†Now two Republican members of the House of Representatives from Florida â€" which has a large population of Cuban refugees and where feelings about Cuba are acute â€" have raised questions about the visit. The representatives, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart, have written to Adam J. Szubin, the director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the Treasury Department, asking about the nature of the license the couple received for their visit. “Cuba’s tourism industry is wholly state-controlled,†Ms. Ros-Lehtinen and Mr. Diaz-Balart wrote, “therefore, U.S. dollars spent on Cuban tourism directly fund the machinery of oppression that brutally represses the Cuban people.†Penalties for violating the travel ban can include a 10-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine. Although thousands of Americans find their way to Cuba every year, usually by way of another country, few are prosecuted.
A sortable calendar of noteworthy cultural events in the New York region, selected by Times critics.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/08/arts/music/questions-over-cuba-trip-of-beyonce-and-jay-z.html
