Florida senator says
power couple should have reached out to fellow artists who are being
persecuted by Cuban government. Rubio
suggested Jay-Z and Beyoncé should have reached out to fellow
artists who are being persecuted.
Florida senator
Marco Rubio criticized Jay-Z and Beyoncé last sunday, describing
the couple as "hypocritical" for visiting Cuba, which is
still under US embargo.
Rubio said Jay-Z
should have made the effort to be well informed about Cuba's
political past before the trip – and in particular the rapper's
hero, Che Guevara. He also missed an opportunity by not attempting to
engage with cultural figures being y top pressed the government,
Rubio said.
His rebuke came
after Jay-Z rapped an open letter to critics such as Rubio. In Open
Letter, Jay-Z who went to Cuba on his wedding anniversary, sang:
"Politicians never did shit for me except lie to me, distort
history … They wanna give me jail time and a fine."
Although the embargo
imposed after the Cuban missile crisis remains in place, it has been
gradually eroded, particularly during the Obama administration.
Relatives, journalists, researchers and other categories can visit.
The US Treasury Department gave permission for Jay-Z and Beyoncé to
go.
There is debate
inside the US between those – especially the older generation of
Cuban immigrants – who regard the embargo as essential to bringing
down the Communist government, and a younger generation of Cubans who
either do not care or welcome the chance to visit relatives on the
island. Some opposed to the embargo argue it has been
counterproductive and that regular exchanges and trade would have
done more to undermine the Cuban government.
Rubio, who is of
Cuban descent, declined during an interview to rap a response to the
open letter.
"Well, I won't
rap it, but I'll say, I mean, first of all, I think Jay-Z needs to
get informed," Rubio said. "One of his heroes is Che
Guevara. Che Guevara was a racist. Che Guevara was a racistthat wrote
extensively about the superiority of white Europeans over people of
African descent, so he should inform himself on the guy that he's
propping up.
"Secondly, I
think if Jay-Z was truly interested in the true state of affairs in
Cuba, he would have met people that are being oppressed, including a
hip-hop artist in Cuba who is right now being oppressed and
persecuted and is undergoing a hunger strike because of his political
lyrics. And I think he missed an opportunity. But that's Jay-Z's
issue."
If the visit did not
violate the embargo rules, it showed the ridiculousness of the laws,
Rubio said. "The travel policies need to be tightened because
they are being abused. These are tourist trips, and they are – what
they're doing is providing hard currency and funding so that a
tyrannical regime can maintain its grip on the island of Cuba, and I
think that's wrong," he said.
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