Calling the duo’s trip “a squandered opportunity,” Republican Rep. Matt Salmon on Friday again blasted Jay-Z and Beyonce for vacationing in Cuba while failing to confront the communist nation’s poor treatment of its own people.
“I just wish they would’ve taken the opportunity to go over there and highlight some of the major human rights abuses,” the Arizona Republican said during an interview on Fox News. “I think they could’ve followed the lead of Bono when it comes to trying to highlight some of the travesties that are happening.”
Bono, singer for rock mega-group U2 and a longtime human rights activists, has frequently traveled to Africa and elsewhere to draw attention to the plight of impoverished citizens there.
Mr. Salmon said that it would’ve been a positive thing if Beyonce and Jay-Z had drawn similar attention to what the Cuban people go through on a daily basis. People may now be talking those issues, he added, but it isn’t because of the couple’s trip.
“If [a conversation about Cuba] happens in a positive way, I think it’ll happen in spite of what they did, not because of what they did,” Mr. Salmon said. “This was a squandered opportunity. It appeared to be a little more like what Dennis Rodman did, going to North Korea.”
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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