Beyonce, Jay-Z trip to Cuba deemed legal

U.S. singer Beyonce poses for photos with school children as she tours Old Havana, Cuba last April. The Treasury Departments Inspector General has found that Jay-Z and Beyonce's fifth-anniversary trip to Cuba last year was legal under U.S. rules allowing educational travel to the island. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)

HAVANA — The U.S. Treasury Department’s inspector general has determined Jay-Z and Beyonce’s fifth-anniversary trip to Cuba last year was legal under rules allowing educational travel to the island.

The music superstars angered several Republican politicians in Florida with their four-day visit to Havana, which saw them eating in some of the city’s high-end private restaurants and touring colonial Old Havana while Jay-Z puffed on a Cuban cigar.

Washington’s 51-year embargo makes it illegal for U.S. citizens to visit Cuba for mere tourism, although tens of thousands of Americans travel to the island each year on academic, religious, journalistic or cultural exchange licenses. The inspector general’s office said in a report Wednesday that the couple visited an art school and a local theater group, helping make their trip a legal educational exchange.