Jay-Z, Beyonce in Cuba Was Approved by U.S. Treasury as "People-to-People" Cultural Visit

The Carters were officially OK-ed to vacay in Castro's Cuba.

According to "a source familiar with the itinerary," Jay-Z and Beyonce's controversial fifth-anniversary trip to the island, Reuters reports, was fully approved and licensed by the U.S. Treasury Department as a "people-to-people" cultural visit.

UPDATE Marco Rubio says Jay-Z and Beyonce are "tourists who have no interest in the Cuban people's freedom," demands the "Obama administration explain."

UPDATE #2 The Treasury Department has officially confirmed that Jay-Z and Beyonce's trip to Cuba was indeed "authorized."

UPDATE #3 Ros-Lehtinen still insists Jay-Z and Beyonce in Cuba "was a wedding anniversary vacation that was not even disguised as a cultural program."

UPDATE #4 Jay-Z's finally responded to his Cuba haters with a new track called "Open Letter" and words like, "Obama said, 'Chill, you gon get me impeached.'"

UPDATE #5 Pitbull has dropped a rap response to Jay-Z and Beyonce's Cuba visit, offering to pay for the trip.

UPDATE #6 Problem Kids have released "Useful Idiot" about Jay-Z: "The real cuba is not what he portrayed"

UPDATE #7 Obama has commented on Jay-Z and Beyonce in Cuba, saying: ""This is not something the White House was involved with. We've got better things to do."

See also:

-Beyonce and Jay-Z Are In Cuba Right Now

After flying out of Miami last Wednesday, Hova and Bey landed in Havana for a three-day stay -- which, Reuters' source notes, "involved no meetings with Cuban officials, or typical tourist activity such as trips to the beach."

Instead, the supercouple smoked Cubano cigars. They ate out at famed paladare, La Guardia. They partied with the musicians from the island, like Haila Mompié and 90-year-old Juana Bacallao.

"I never imagined that I would be the one to sing for the great international American stars: Beyoncé and Jay-Z," Mompié raved via Facebook. "You can't imagine the emotion I felt being able to give my humble voice to those two greats. It was like a dream..."

The Carters also got a tour of the Old City of Havana from architect Miguel Coyula. And they mingled with la gente in the streets.

But they did "not say one word," South Floridian member of Congress Ileana Ros-Lehtinen complains to Reuters, "about the brutality their hosts display against all pro-democracy activists."

So far, there's been no official comment from the U.S. Treasury Department (or its Office of Foreign Assets Control, the branch that issues licenses for trips to Cuba) because, as the agency tells Reuters, "it does not comment on individual cases."

Maybe, though, Hova and Bey's buddy, Obama in the Oval Office, can personally vouch for the Carters' "contribut[ion] to the development of civil society in Cuba."

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