[Video] Beyonce and Jay-Z’s Trip To Cuba Sparks Controversy

Beyonce and her block braids were living the life in Cuba with Jay-Z as the couple continued to celebrate their 5th anniversary this weekend. While they’ve been spotted dining in restaurants, walking the streets of Havana, taking pictures of crowds from their exclusive balcony and enjoying the sights and culture of the country, their trip has been under some heavy controversy. Cuban civil rights activists have been outraged that Beyonce and Jay-Z have been visiting a country that continues to operate under the Castro dictatorship of apartheid, racism, communism, and open use of violence against its citizens. The Castro family has ruled over Cuba with an iron fist for over 50 years since they helped overthrow the government.

The anti-Castro blog Babalú claims that the couple are not only VIP guests of the Castro family, but their personal bodyguards have been provided by the government as well. They also say that the “luxuries” Jay and Bey are getting could never be available to Cuban citizens:

VIP guests of the apartheid dictatorship of the Castro family. She is enjoying the luxuries offered in Cuba only to foreigners, which is staffed by the slaves owned by the Cuban regime, the majority of which are Afro Cubans. The world has been enthralled by the stories and pictures coming out of Cuba of her and her husband strolling the streets of Havana accompanied by bodyguards and handlers from the Castro dictatorship. For the most part, there has been little to no outcry over their incredibly insensitive and idiotic decision to vacation in Cuba and provide support and publicity for a racist regime that would have imprisoned her and her outspoken husband if they had the misfortune of being born in Cuba.”

Long story short, Cuban civil rights activists fear that Beyonce and Jay-Z’s trip was a ploy by the Cuban government to attract tourism while distracting the attention away from how the country continues to treat its citizens. According to reports, just last month, a group of wives, mothers, daughters, and relatives of political prisoners called “The Ladies in White” were arrested during a pro-democratic protest in Cuba and some of the members went missing. Female members of the Rosa Parks Feminist Movement for Civil Rights are arrested daily for speaking out against the government’s dictatorship and prostitution. Poverty and child sex slavery continues to run rampant.

You can see what happens to protesters daily in this recent footage!

There are also questions about if their visit to the country was illegal after Bill Clinton put in place an embargo which prohibited American tourists to travel to the communist-ruled island, however, in 2011 President Obama eased the travel ban to Cuba so that students and religious missionaries would be allowed to visit the country for cultural exchanges and the arts.

Jay and Bey probably weren’t expecting their innocent trip to Cuba to be this big of a deal. Their interest in a trip to Havana was sparked in February after they attended the release of “JR & José Parlá: The Wrinkles of the City, Havana, Cuba,” at Miami’s Art Basel. The book and accompanying film illustrates a French and American artist’s collaboration of monumental murals throughout Havana, which they created after they photographed 25 senior citizens who had lived through the Cuban Revolution. Apparently, The Carters were interested in viewing the murals and other city attractions in person after seeing the book and film.