Beyoncé and Jay-Z's Cuba visit as symbolic political speech

Media

The issue itself and why it caused controversy

According to Hudson (n.d.) of the First Amendment Center, the United States Supreme Court recognizes that the First Amendment right to free speech includes non-verbal self-expression. This includes symbolic speech: actions that express opinions. Often symbolic speech is highly controversial. This was the case when superstars Beyonce and Jay-Z celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary in Cuba, a country that Americans are officially banned from visiting as tourists. The visit to Cuba has raised a storm of political opinion and controversy, especially among the Cuban-American community. In the aftermath of the visit, some pundits claim that the policy banning Americans from visiting Cuba is "broken," and that "the whole instance shines the spotlight on one of the most lengthy failed policies in U.S. history," (Brown, 2013). On the other hand, the Cuban-American Senator Marco Rubio claims that Fidel Castro staged the visit by Beyonce and Jay-Z as "propaganda," (Boesveld, 2013). Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen from Florida also criticized the celebrity couple for doing what she claims is "illegal." Therefore, Jay-Z and Beyonce's visit to Cuba was far more than an anniversary celebration; it was a bold declaration of their political views on the U.S. embargo.

The issue itself has caused controversy because of the communist regime under Fidel Castro, who has been in power since 1960. According to Brown (2013), "the intention was to suffocate the Castro regime while still young, allowing the restoration of democracy." However, embargo has not had the intended result of strangling the regime and encouraging democracy from emerging. The failure of the regime is one of the reasons why many Americans like Beyonce and Jay-Z believe the travel ban should be eliminated. Many visitors to Cuba are taking advantage of recent relaxation of the travel ban. As Peralta (2013) points out, Beyonce and Jay-Z are not the first to receive a special permit from the United States Treasury Department allowing for an "educational exchange trip."

Members of the Cuban community in exile in the United States deem visits to Cuba an insult and an affront to democratic ideals. It is basically viewed as a form of anti-democratic free speech. Representative Ros-Lehtinen commented that Beyonce and Jay-Z should have refrained from expressing their political views, instead expressing "solidarity with the suffering of the Cuban people" by obeying the travel ban (cited by Wilkins, 2013).

The travel ban to Cuba is itself controversial. Ros-Lehtinen, Rubio, and other members of the Cuban-American community appear to be in the minority, based on the media coverage of the Beyonce/Jay-Z visit. International media coverage depicts the celebrity visit as an admirable form of symbolic free speech that challenges the efficacy of the Cuba embargo. Some reporters go so far as to accuse Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-American, of supporting terrorism against Cuba, given her "staunch support for Miami-based Cuban exile terrorists who have carried out deadly attacks against the Castro regime as well as against innocent civilians," (Wilkins, 2013). From this perspective, the visit to Cuba by Beyonce and Jay-Z represents a type of non-violent resistance against tyrannical American foreign policy.

Canadian news sources, such as the National Post, reflect the beliefs of a nation that upholds the strongest tenets of democracy but also does not have a travel or trade embargo with Cuba (Boesveld, 2013). Some American reporters have opted to use the high-profile visit to Cuba as a means of initiating free speech related to changing official American policy towards the Caribbean nation. One reporter for the New York Daily News rants, "Come on, let's be serious…if anything is clear, it is that the trip of the famous couple to Havana has exposed the travel ban as what it is: a senseless, anachronistic and anti-democratic policy, contrary to U.S. interests and values," (Ruiz, 2013).

Opinion and Conclusion

Beyonce and Jay-Z had every right to their symbolic free speech. Resolving the controversy will become an ongoing process. Calls to change American foreign policy toward Cuba may become more vocal as a result of a high-profile visit such as the one by Beyonce and Jay-Z. The Obama administration has relaxed travel restrictions on Cuba significantly enough to allow for such visits. Americans who are curious about Cuban culture, society, and scenery have been visiting the island nation in spite of the travel restrictions, albeit in less dramatic and high profile ways as Beyonce and Jay-Z. Those visits can likewise be considered demonstrations of free speech, affirmations of the right and freedoms of Americans to go, see, and do whatever they please within the general parameters of the law. When the laws in place reflect outmoded values, they can and should be broken in a form of peaceful protest not unlike the forms used during the Civil Rights movement. The embargo to Cuba is outdated, and no longer necessary.