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11 months ago
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The US former ambassador to Bolivia has been charged with working as a Cuban spy for more than 40 years, in what officials described as one of the 'highest-reaching infiltrations' by a foreign agent.
Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, was arrested in Miami on Friday after he was caught out by an FBI agent posing as a Cuban intelligence officer, and he's now been charged with serving as a mole since at least 1981, the Justice Department said Monday.
Newly unsealed court papers allege that Rocha engaged in 'clandestine activity', including meeting with Cuban intelligence operatives and providing false information to government officials about his travels and contacts.
The complaint, filed in a Florida federal court, charges Rocha with crimes including acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government. It comes amid escalating Justice Department criminal enforcement of illicit foreign lobbying on US soil.
A naturalized US citizen originally from Colombia, Rocha served in top posts in Bolivia, Argentina and the US Interests Section in Havana.
Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, was arrested in Miami on Friday following an extensive FBI probe, and he's now been charged with serving as a mole since at least 1981, the Justice Department said
Much of his career was spent in Latin America during the Cold War, which included a stint at the US Interests Section in Cuba
As ambassador to Bolivia, Rocha (right) intervened directly into the 2002 presidential race
'This action exposes one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent,' said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.
'We allege that for over 40 years, Victor Manuel Rocha served as an agent of the Cuban government and sought out and obtained positions within the United States government that would provide him with access to non-public information and the ability to affect US foreign policy.
'Those who have the privilege of serving in the government of the United States are given an enormous amount of trust by the public we serve.
'To betray that trust by falsely pledging loyalty to the United States while serving a foreign power is a crime that will be met with the full force of the Justice Department.'
Garland added that the septuagenarian's alleged activity constitutes a 'blatant violation' of his oath as a federal official, and 'betrays the trust of the American people'.
Charging documents trace Rocha's alleged illegal ties with Cuba's notoriously sophisticated intelligence services to 1981, when he first joined the State Department, to well after his departure from the federal government in 2002.
The FBI learned about the relationship last year and arranged a series of undercover encounters with someone purporting to be a Cuban intelligence operative.
This included one meeting in Miami last year in which Rocha said that he had been directed by the government's intelligence services to 'lead a normal life' and had created the 'legend,' or artificial persona, 'of a right-wing person.'
Rocha’s wife, Karla Wittkop Rocha (left), would not comment when contacted by the AP. 'I don’t need to talk to you,' she said before hanging up
Manuel Rocha, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia from 2000-2002, is seen with his wife Karla Wittkop Rocha
'I always told myself, `The only thing that can put everything we have done in danger is - is ... someone´s betrayal, someone who may have met me, someone who may have known something at some point,'' Rocha said, according to the charging document.
Rocha obtained employment in the US Department of State between 1981 and 2002, in positions that provided him access to classified information, and the ability to affect US foreign policy.
He served in various roles in Mexico City, Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, Havana in Cuba, Buenos Aires in Argentina, and La Paz in Bolivia.
From in or around 2006 until in or around 2012, Rocha was an advisor to the Commander of the US Southern Command, a joint command of the United States military whose area of responsibility includes Cuba.
The complaint alleges that, in a series of meetings during 2022 and 2023 with an undercover agent from the FBI posing as a covert Cuban General Directorate of Intelligence representative, Rocha made repeated statements admitting his 'decades' of work for Cuba, spanning '40 years.'
When the undercover agent told Rocha he was 'a covert representative here in Miami' whose mission was 'to contact you, introduce myself as your new contact, and establish a new communication plan,' Rocha answered 'Yes'.
He proceeded to engage in a lengthy conversation during which he described and celebrated his activity as a Cuban intelligence agent.
Officials said Rocha's alleged activity constitutes a 'blatant violation' of his oath as a federal official, and 'betrays the trust of the American people'
Throughout the meetings, Rocha behaved as a Cuban agent, consistently referring to the United States as 'the enemy,' and using the term 'we' to describe himself and Cuba, according to the Justice Department.
Rocha also praised Fidel Castro as the 'Comandante,' and referred to his contacts in Cuban intelligence as his 'Compañeros' (comrades) and to the Cuban intelligence services as the 'Dirección.'
Rocha described his work as a Cuban agent as 'a grand slam.'
He will appear before a US Magistrate Judge in Miami on Monday.
English (US)