Beyoncé And Jay-Z Wedding Anniversary In Havana: Why Are Cuba Officials Mad?

The top Cuban diplomat based in the United States, José Cabañas, lamented the lack of American media attention being paid to Beyoncé and Jay-Z's visit to Havana and said too much attention was being devoted to Yoani Sánchez, the Cuban dissident blogger who is currently on a speaking tour of the U.S.

Reuters reports that in response to a question at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington think tank, Cabañas complained that media attention on Sánchez was "taking a lot of attention from the most important ... news that has been happening these days in regards to Cuba." Cabañas added that Beyoncé's visit to Havana was "not covered by the media," calling it "incredible."

The Miami Herald reported on Thursday that news of Beyoncé and Jay-Z's visit to Havana was raising eyebrows in Miami, historic home of Cuban exiles and opposition to the Castro regime. The blogger Sánchez took part in a number of public speaking engagements in Miami this week as part of a larger inter-American and European tour. Sánchez gained renown for denouncing, in her blog columns, what she calls human rights abuses and lack of basic freedoms in Cuba. Tourist travel to the island country is prohibited under the US law, though travel licenses may be granted for reasons of an academic, journalistic, artistic or cultural nature. The U.S. embargo against the island has been in place for 51 years. According to the Herald, it was unclear how Beyoncé and Jay-Z's trip was classified. The website CubaSi, a government organ, called it a tourist trip. The couple declined to speak to reporters regarding their reasons for being in Havana. They celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary on April 4.

The couple made waves in Havana, where crowds gathered outside of La Guarida, an upscale restaurant in the downtown neighborhood of Centro Havana, after word got out that Beyoncé was eating there. Crowds chanted her name until she emerged onto a balcony and waved. The AP reports that they also toured Old Havana, a neighborhood popular with tourists in part for its colonial-era architecture, where Beyoncé posed for pictures with local schoolchildren and Jay-Z puffed a Cuban cigar.

Cabañas, who is relatively new in his position -- he replaced the former top Cuban diplomat based in the US only five months ago -- published a book in 1984 titled "Radio Martí: Una nueva agresión" ("Radio Marti: A New Form of Aggression"), about what he argued was the US government's longtime attempt to turn Cubans against the Castro-led government through propaganda radio broadcasts from Miami, according to the Diplomatic Pouch.

Cabañas also commented on what he sees as a double standard that is "difficult to justify" with regard to immigration to the US, specifically the difference between immigration policy for Cubans and citizens of other countries.