Beyonce And Jay-Z Travel To Cuba, Everyone Freaks Out

tumblr_miqn83TGET1rqgjz2o1_1280Beyonce and Jay-Z travel to Cuba for their five-year anniversary and everyone is freaking out about it. Yes, we all know the U.S. has had travel and trade embargoes on Cuba for over five decades. Regardless, it’s still pretty easy to travel there and there are many who don’t agree with the embargoes. Give Jay and Bey a break, people.

The couple is getting slammed for choosing Cuba for their vacation destination by those who don’t believe Cuba should be supported with tourism dollars due to their long-standing problems with human rights abuses. From The Huffington Post:

Mauricio Claver-Carone, the Executive Director of Cuba Democracy Advocates in Washington, D.C., a group dedicated to promoting democracy in the Caribbean country, blasted the hip-hop power couple for vacationing in the communist nation.

“There are women getting beaten on a daily basis, women who are being jailed for no reason … people are fighting for their freedom,” he told TMZ, claiming Beyonce and Jay-Z’s failed to educate themselves on Cuba’s human rights violations before making the trip. “It’s extremely insensitive,” he added.

Are we really going to pretend that Cuba is the only popular tourist destination with human rights violations? What about Sri-Lanka? Burma? Saudi Arabia? I’m going to stop now because there are a litany of human rights violations you could point to in all corners of the world – including our own country. Blasting a couple for visiting Cuba because it violates what many believe to be a pretty out-dated and unfair embargo is a little ridiculous. From Forbes:

At present, the U.S. is largely alone in restricting access to Cuba.  The embargo has long been a point of friction between the United States and allies in Europe, South America, and Canada.  Every year since 1992, the U.S. has been publically condemned in the United Nations for maintaining counterproductive and worn out trade and migration restrictions against Cuba despite the fact that nearly all 5,911 U.S. companies nationalized during the Castro takeover have dropped their claims.

So let’s give Beyonce and Jay-Z a break and let them enjoy their anniversary. I’m sure they’ll give us something new to criticize next week.

(photo: Tumblr)

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