Victor Manuel Rocha, a long-time resident of Miami, and former U.S. ambassador pleaded responsible on Friday to secretly performing for many years as an agent of the federal government of the Republic of Cuba.
Rocha, a former U.S. Division of State worker who served on the Nationwide Safety Council from 1994 to 1995 and as U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002, was sentenced to 15 years in jail for his crimes of conviction.
“Victor Manuel Rocha secretly acted for many years as an agent of a hostile international energy. He thought the story of his covert mission for Cuba would by no means be informed as a result of he had the intelligence, information, and self-discipline to by no means be detected,” mentioned U.S. Lawyer Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida.
“I’m conscious that Rocha’s decades-long felony exercise on behalf of the Cuban Authorities is very painful for a lot of in South Florida,” he added.
U.S. District Court docket Choose Beth Bloom accepted Rocha’s responsible plea to counts 1 and a pair of of the indictment, which charged him with conspiring to behave as an agent of a international authorities and conspiring to defraud the US and performing as an agent of a international authorities with out discover as required by regulation.
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Along with the 15-year sentence, he was additionally fined $500,000, and given three years of supervised launch.
Beneath the phrases of the events’ plea settlement, Rocha should cooperate with the US, together with aiding with any harm evaluation associated to his work on behalf of the Republic of Cuba. Rocha should relinquish all future retirement advantages, together with pension funds, owed to him by the US primarily based upon his former State Division employment.
Many years-long Cuban spy
In confessing his guilt, Rocha acknowledged a startling timeline of allegiance to the Republic of Cuba, spanning from 1973 till his apprehension. Throughout this era, he aided Cuba’s intelligence-gathering efforts in opposition to the US, working as an spy for Cuba’s Normal Directorate of Intelligence.
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To facilitate his covert actions, Rocha strategically secured positions inside the U.S. Division of State from 1981 to 2002, affording him entry to delicate, nonpublic data, together with labeled information, and the flexibility to affect U.S. international coverage. His profession highlights embody serving as U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia, taking part within the White Home Nationwide Safety Council, and a tenure as Deputy Principal Secretary of the State Division’s U.S. Pursuits Part in Havana, Cuba, from 1995 to 1997. Even after leaving his State Division function, Rocha continued to help Cuba’s intelligence providers via varied means.
Sustaining his standing as a Cuban agent covertly was paramount for Rocha, enabling him to guard himself and others whereas pursuing additional clandestine actions. He supplied false data to the US and undertook worldwide journey to liaise with Cuban intelligence operatives.
In a compelling collection of encounters between 2022 and 2023, Rocha, unaware he was interacting with an undercover FBI agent posing as a Cuban intelligence consultant, brazenly admitted to his intensive service for Cuba, spanning 4 many years. Throughout these conferences, Rocha enthusiastically recounted his covert actions, displaying unwavering loyalty to Cuba. He persistently referred to the US as “the enemy,” recognized with Cuba utilizing the time period “we,” praised Fidel Castro because the “Comandante,” and revered his contacts in Cuban intelligence as his “Compañeros” (comrades), whereas relating to the Cuban intelligence providers because the “Dirección.” Rocha boasted of the importance of his actions, proclaiming that they significantly bolstered the Cuban Revolution.
The FBI’s Miami Subject Workplace led the investigation, with essential assist from the FBI’s Washington Subject Workplace and the U.S. Division of State’s Diplomatic Safety Service (DSS).
