America executive has now officially responded to the uproar over Jay-Z and Beyoncé‘s shuttle to Cuba final week. The Treasury Department’s Workplace of Overseas Belongings Keep watch over sent out a letter today addressed to Republican participants of Congress pronouncing that the travel was, in truth, felony, and mentioned that the two celebrities traveling in Cuba labeled as “instructional travel.”

Tutorial commute is considered one of the most few exceptions to the ban on trip to Cuba, and it used to be even rejected all through the Bush administration, most effective to be restored by means of Obama two years ago.

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Assistant Treasury Secretary for Legislative Affairs Alastair Fitzpayne explained in the letter why they believe the trip by way of Jay-Z and Beyoncé to be felony.

OFAC requires participants in individuals-to-individuals journeys to have interaction in “a full-time schedule of instructional change actions that result in significant interplay between the U.S. travelers and individuals in Cuba,” mentioned the letter, got by means of El Nuevo Herald.

However participants additionally “could interact in non tutorial actions off hours,” introduced the letter, signed through Assistant Treasury Secretary for Legislative Affairs Alastair M. Fitzpayne.

Beyoncé and her husband visited the Superior Institute of the Arts and watched performances by means of the Brand new Dance Troupe and a kids’s theater crew. However they also strolled round Previous Havana’s iconic tourist attractions and celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary with a 3-hour dinner at one of the crucial city’s best possible-recognized eating places.

After all, this clarification didn’t assuage Republican concerns. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen stated the fact that a celebrity trip is classed through an educational shuttle means that the “Obama administration will not be critical” about coping with the Castro regime. The famous person couple received into Cuba due to a New York-based totally firm referred to as Academic Preparations Abroad.

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Observe Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac