<p>US President Barack Obama had nothing to do with rapper Jay-Z and pop diva Beyonce's trip to Cuba, the White House said Thursday after the hip hop icon released a song about the controversy.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"I am absolutely saying that the White House, from the president on down, had nothing to do with anybody's personal - anybody's travel to Cuba. That is something that Treasury handles," press secretary Jay Carney said at the daily briefing.<br /><br />Tourism to Cuba is banned under Washington's 50-year-old economic embargo against the island, but it is possible to obtain a license from the Treasury Department for religious, academic, educational and cultural journeys.<br /><br />Responding to a query from two Cuban-American members of Congress, the Treasury Department said Tuesday that Jay-Z, Beyonce and members of their family were authorized to travel to Cuba for educational purposes.<br /><br />At Thursday's press briefing, Politico reporter Donovan Slack recited some lyrics from Jay-Z's song about the incident, "Open Letter", and challenged Carney to provide an explanation.<br /><br />"I turned Havana to Atlanta... Boy from the hood I got White House clearance...," Jay-Z says in the song.<br /><br />"I guess nothing rhymes with Treasury," the press secretary quipped.<br /><br />"It's a song, Donovan. The president did not communicate with Jay-Z over this trip," Carney insisted.<br /><br />Jay-Z and Beyonce, whose Cuba trip coincided with their fifth wedding anniversary, campaigned for Obama's re-election in 2012.<br /><br />"Cuba's tourism industry is wholly state-controlled, therefore, US dollars spent on Cuban tourism directly fund the machinery of oppression that brutally represses the Cuban people," Florida Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, both Republicans, said in a letter to the Treasury Department after the couple's visit became public.<br /><br />Some members of the Cuban exile community said the visit was used for propaganda purposes by the regime in Havana.<br /><br />The New York Times, however, said Cuban authorities did not know about the pair's arrival until the last minute and noted that Beyonce visited a children's theater group and watched dance-company rehearsals during their three-day stay.</p>
<p>US President Barack Obama had nothing to do with rapper Jay-Z and pop diva Beyonce's trip to Cuba, the White House said Thursday after the hip hop icon released a song about the controversy.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"I am absolutely saying that the White House, from the president on down, had nothing to do with anybody's personal - anybody's travel to Cuba. That is something that Treasury handles," press secretary Jay Carney said at the daily briefing.<br /><br />Tourism to Cuba is banned under Washington's 50-year-old economic embargo against the island, but it is possible to obtain a license from the Treasury Department for religious, academic, educational and cultural journeys.<br /><br />Responding to a query from two Cuban-American members of Congress, the Treasury Department said Tuesday that Jay-Z, Beyonce and members of their family were authorized to travel to Cuba for educational purposes.<br /><br />At Thursday's press briefing, Politico reporter Donovan Slack recited some lyrics from Jay-Z's song about the incident, "Open Letter", and challenged Carney to provide an explanation.<br /><br />"I turned Havana to Atlanta... Boy from the hood I got White House clearance...," Jay-Z says in the song.<br /><br />"I guess nothing rhymes with Treasury," the press secretary quipped.<br /><br />"It's a song, Donovan. The president did not communicate with Jay-Z over this trip," Carney insisted.<br /><br />Jay-Z and Beyonce, whose Cuba trip coincided with their fifth wedding anniversary, campaigned for Obama's re-election in 2012.<br /><br />"Cuba's tourism industry is wholly state-controlled, therefore, US dollars spent on Cuban tourism directly fund the machinery of oppression that brutally represses the Cuban people," Florida Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, both Republicans, said in a letter to the Treasury Department after the couple's visit became public.<br /><br />Some members of the Cuban exile community said the visit was used for propaganda purposes by the regime in Havana.<br /><br />The New York Times, however, said Cuban authorities did not know about the pair's arrival until the last minute and noted that Beyonce visited a children's theater group and watched dance-company rehearsals during their three-day stay.</p>