Beyoncé and Jay-Z incited a lot of outrage for visiting Cuba last week. They reportedly went to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary, which they did by touring historical landmarks and spreading the goodwill of American Pop and Hip-Hop music.
But, given the way Republican congressmen beholden to Miami Cubans are reacting, you’d think Bey and Jay’s visit was not only illegal but treasonous. Except that their visit to Cuba was no more illegal or treasonous than Dennis Rodman’s now-notorious visit to North Korea.
After all, even though Americans are generally prohibited from traveling to Cuba, the government grants so many waivers these days that this prohibition is rather like its prohibition against Americans using marijuana.
Specifically, if you were to go the website of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, you’d see that the government issues general or specific licenses to travel to everyone from Americans wishing to visit close relatives to those interested in journalistic activities, educational activities, and professional research – just to name a few categories.
It is instructive, therefore, that the New York Times reported yesterday that Bey and Jay:
…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.
Given that, I’d say they covered their asses under at least two categories.
In any case, I’m sure Bey and Jay are sensible enough to have gotten proper, pro-forma clearance for their travel. Hell, given their cozy relationship with President Obama, it would not surprise me to learn that he personally sanctioned their visit as goodwill ambassadors pursuant to the “people-to-people” program he initiated to promote greater cultural exchange between Americans and Cubans.
Which means that all of the talk about congressional hearings, 10-year prison sentences, and $250,000 fines for violating some travel ban merely reflects resentful thinking by Miami Cubans and their political enablers. Not least because these folks would like to see America’s misguided, hypocritical, and demonstrably porous embargo of Cuba remain in place for another 50 years.
Meanwhile:
I am convinced that, if re-elected, Obama will seal his legacy by lifting the embargo and normalizing relations with Cuba.
(“Fifth Summit of the Americas: Managing Expectations,” The iPINIONS Journal, April 17, 2009)
This is why it strikes me as certifiably delusional for Miami Cubans to continue hoping against hope that the embargo will end with them reclaiming their paradise lost. Frankly, they stand a far better chance of creating a new Cuba out of their slice of Miami, which is already known as little Havana. And I wish them good luck with that….
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