A former US ambassador, Victor Manuel Rocha, has been charged with spying for Cuba, a historic enemy of Washington, for “more than 40 years,” the US Justice Department said on Monday.
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This case is “one of the longest and most significant infiltrations by a foreign agent within the American state,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
According to the indictment, “Mr. Rocha worked as an undercover agent for the Cuban state for more than 40 years,” Garland told reporters.
The former diplomat “sought and obtained positions within the U.S. government apparatus that would give him access to non-public information and the ability to influence U.S. foreign policy,” he said. he added in the press release.
AFP
He was arrested Friday in Miami following an FBI investigation into an undercover agent and is expected to have his first hearing in federal court in Florida on Monday.
“Warmest regards”
Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, has held very high positions in American diplomacy: before ending his career in the State Department as ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002, he was notably a member of the National Security Council, the body of the White House, from 1994 to 1995, under President Bill Clinton.
According to a court document, he was also stationed at numerous American embassies in Latin America, including that in Havana.
A Colombian-born naturalized American, Mr. Rocha began working for Cuba’s communist government in its main intelligence agency in 1981, according to the indictment.
According to the Justice Department, he continued his spying activities for Cuba even after he left the State Department in 2002 after about 30 years of service. In particular, Mr. Rocha served as an advisor to the US Southern Command, the body that coordinates American forces in Latin America, including Cuba.
According to a court document, Mr. Rocha was confused by an employee of the American Federal Police (FBI) who posed as an agent of the Cuban secret service in 2022 and 2023.
After receiving a “WhatsApp message” from the undercover agent, Mr. Rocha (carefully avoiding being followed) went to a meeting with this fake Cuban agent who hid a microphone and camera to obtain his confidential information.
He talks about his false life as a “right-winger”, speaks of his “comrades” in Cuba, asks the false liaison officer to send “warm greetings” to the secret service directorate in Havana or speaks of the “great sacrifice” that his life as a secret agent was meant for him .
What he had done for the communist government of Havana for “almost 40 years” was “enormous,” “more than a grand slam,” he congratulated himself at a second meeting in Miami with this undercover FBI agent.
The former ambassador, who lives in Miami, “always referred to the United States as ‘the enemy’ and used the word ‘we’ to describe Cuba and himself,” the Justice Department said.
Other espionage cases
When he was freely questioned by American Diplomacy Security on Friday, December 1, before his arrest, he “repeatedly” lied and denied meeting the undercover FBI agent, the court document continues.
The State Department will “investigate” the “long-term national security implications of this matter” with the intelligence community, its spokesman Matthew Miller said on Monday.
Numerous espionage cases have affected relations between the two countries, which have been enemies since Cuba’s communist revolution in 1959 in the midst of the Cold War.
In 2001, Ana Belén Montes, a military intelligence analyst, was arrested on espionage charges and admitted to collecting intelligence for Cuba for nearly a decade.
The CIA made numerous attempts to assassinate Cuban leaders after the failed Bay of Pigs landings in 1961.
The relationship between Washington and the communist island, which has been subject to the American embargo since 1962, remains tense. Before leaving office in early 2021, Donald Trump placed Cuba back on the list of countries that support terrorism – a registration that is still in effect despite discussions revived by President Joe Biden’s administration.