Beyonce, Jay-Z Draw Crowds of Cuban Admirers

HAVANA, Cuba – American pop star Beyonce and rapper husband Jay-Z celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary this week in Havana, where big crowds greeted them as they strolled hand in hand through the Cuban capital.

They ate at some of the city’s best restaurants, danced to Cuban music, walked through historic Old Havana and posed for pictures with admiring Cubans, who recognized them despite the past half-century of ideological conflict that separates the United States and Cuba.

They were the latest and perhaps greatest big-name American stars – actors Bill Murray, Sean Penn and James Caan among them – to visit the Caribbean island in the past few years.  But the first to cause such a stir everywhere they went.

Fans in the street below cried out Beyonce’s name as she and Jay Z and their mothers dined at the upstairs restaurant, La Guarida, famed as the location for the hit 1993 Cuban film “Strawberry and Chocolate.”

A crowd of several thousand people swarmed around them in the main square of Old Havana, which prompted their security team to put a halt to their visit to the site.

“I was in the eye of the whirlpool. We had to cut it short because it got so crazy,” said architect Miguel Coyula, who gave the couple a tour of the 16th century heart of the city.

They also visited a children’s theater group called La Colmenita, a source close to the group said.

On Thursday night, they dined at La Fontana, one of the city’s more established private restaurants, or paladares, and a favorite of visiting foreigners. But police blocked off surrounding roads to prevent onlookers.

Later, they went to El Gato Tuerto, a famous Havana nightclub, then to the Casa de la Musica in the Miramar district where the source said they “danced until dawn” to salsa and other music by the band Havana D’Primera…

Read More: news.yahoo.com

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