Evan Vucci/AP/FILE
The U.S. Department of Justice seal is displayed at a podium before a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Thursday, April 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
CNN –
The former U.S. ambassador to Bolivia has been charged in federal court with acting as a secret foreign agent for Cuba, according to court documents unsealed Monday.
Manuel Rocha, the 73-year-old former American diplomat, “secretly supported the Republic of Cuba and its secret intelligence mission against the United States by acting as an undercover agent of the Cuban intelligence services,” prosecutors wrote.
Rocha served as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002 and as principal deputy officer of the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba in the 1990s. Rocha also worked for the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic and the U.S. Consulate in Italy in the 1980s, and served in various capacities for U.S. embassies in Mexico and Argentina.
During several meetings with an undercover FBI agent posing as a member of Cuban intelligence, Rocha repeatedly referred to the United States as “the enemy” and praised Cuban revolutionary and politician Fidel Castro, according to court documents.
Rocha described being “responsible” for what he described as the “shooting down of the small planes” – what prosecutors believe was an incident during Rocha’s tenure at the State Department in Havana, when Cuba shot down two unarmed planes that were being piloted by members of the U.S. State Department-controlled Brothers to the Rescue, a U.S.-based group opposed to Castro’s government, killed four men.
In the indictment, prosecutors say the Cuban government worked for years to recruit people in the United States to help gather information, including people within the U.S. government.
As a State Department employee, Rocha had “unique” access to nonpublic government information, prosecutors said.
Rocha faces three federal charges, including acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government. Rocha was arrested, a source familiar with the matter told CNN, and is expected to appear in federal court in Miami today.
An attorney for Rocha is not yet listed in the public record and he has not yet entered a formal plea.
An undercover FBI employee posing as a Cuban intelligence agent wrote to Rocha on WhatsApp in November 2022, shortly after investigators were tipped off about Rocha’s alleged undercover work, court documents say. In the message, prosecutors said the undercover operative had “a message for you from your friends in Havana.” It is a delicate matter.”
Rocha allegedly replied: “I don’t understand, but you can call me.” The former ambassador agreed to meet the undercover employee in Miami for an interview.
During the meeting, Rocha allegedly took several precautions to ensure he was not being followed, including taking a longer route to their meeting point and asking the undercover agent to speak in a “food court” with only “low-ranking employees.” … So, there’s no way for – for anyone to see me.”
At their first meeting, Rocha allegedly told the undercover operative that the Cuban intelligence service called the Dirección General de Inteligencia “required me to live a normal life” and that it had “created the legend of a right-wing person.”
“I always said to myself, ‘The only thing that can jeopardize everything we’ve done is… the betrayal of someone, someone who may have met me, someone who may have known something at some point.” Rocha said, according to a recording of the meeting cited in court documents.
He reportedly added: “My biggest concern; My top priority was … any action on the part of Washington that would endanger the lives of the leadership or the revolution itself.”
During another meeting a few weeks later, Rocha allegedly described to the undercover operative the process of obtaining his position at the State Department, saying, “I took it step by step…It was a very careful process…very disciplined – but very disciplined.”
“I knew exactly how to do it and of course the Dirección accompanied me… They knew that I knew how to do it… It’s a long process and it wasn’t easy,” he said, according to prosecutors.
Rocha also reportedly boasted about his “decades” of work on behalf of the Cuban government, saying that it had “strengthened the revolution over the last 40 years” and lamented “the blows suffered by the enemy,” which he allegedly refers to the U.S. government referred to “has been dealing with the current revolution.”
According to court documents, Rocha was working at the consulting firm LLYC USA as a senior international business advisor at the time of his arrest. LLYC said in a statement to CNN on Monday that Rocha is “no longer associated with LLYC effective immediately” and that it will “cooperate fully with authorities as necessary.”
CNN’s Katelyn Polantz contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with additional details.