Letter Regarding Travel to Cuba by Beyonce Knowles-Carter and Shawn Carter
Department of the Treasury
The Honorable Mario Diaz-Balart
U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representative Diaz-Balart:

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20220
April 9, 2013

Thank you for your letter of April 5, 2013, addressed to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), requesting information about recent travel to Cuba by Beyonce Knowles-Carter and Shawn Carter.

As you know, OFAC issues people-to-people licenses to organizations for one- to two-year periods, authorizing the licensed organization to conduct people-to-people educational exchange trips under specified conditions. OFAC's regulations and guidelines require that such trips involve a full-time schedule of educational exchange activities that result in meaningful interaction between the U.S. travelers and individuals in Cuba. OFAC does not restrict the subject matter of the educational activities so long as they are designed to result in meaningful interaction with the Cuban people, and travelers pursuing a full-time schedule of educational exchange activities may engage in non-educational activities off-hours. We want to assure you that OFAC adheres strictly to the requirement in the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 that no license be issued for travel to Cuba for tourist activities, as defmed in the Act. Also, as you know, to the extent that OFAC determines that any violations of the Cuba regulations may have occurred, OFAC can take, and has a history of taking, appropriate enforcement action.

Organizations holding people-to-people licenses must certify in writing to OFAC that any travel that they conduct will consist of a full-time schedule of educational exchange activities that will result in meaningful interaction between the travelers and individuals in Cuba. To renew such licenses, organizations must submit to OFAC complete itineraries of all trips conducted pursuant to the prior license. As part of this licensing process, OFAC does not request the identities of the travelers on each trip. However, prior to arranging for people-to-people travel, licensed Travel Service Providers and Carrier Service Providers are required to receive a letter from the holder of the people-to-people license specifying the OFAC license number and certifying that all of the proposed travelers are authorized. The Treasury Department applies these criteria uniformly and does not make any exceptions.

It is our understanding that the travelers in question traveled to Cuba pursuant to an educational exchange trip organized by a group authorized by OFAC to sponsor and organize programs to promote people-to-people contact in Cuba.

We appreciate your interest in this matter and look forward to working with you in the future.

Sincerely,
Alastair M. Fitzpayne
Assistant Secretary for Legal Affairs
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