Former US diplomat pleads guilty to spying for Cuba for more than 40 years
A former career US diplomat, who previously served as the US ambassador to Bolivia, has admitted to being a Cuban agent for over 40 years.
Victor Manuel Rocha, aged 73, was accused of clandestinely providing information to the Cuban government, which is governed by the communist regime, since 1981 while employed by the US State Department.
In a Miami court on Thursday, he reversed his initial plea of not guilty.
His sentencing is scheduled for April 12.
This development swiftly concludes one of the most notable espionage cases involving Cuba and the US.
Originally, the court session on Thursday was intended to address the handling of classified documents related to the case, as reported by the Miami Herald. However, Rocha, along with his legal counsel and prosecutors, disclosed that a plea agreement had been reached.
When asked by Judge Beth Bloom if he wished to change his plea to guilty, Rocha affirmed, “Your honor, I agree.”
He faces charges under the Foreign Agents Registration Act for acting as a foreign agent, wire fraud, and making false statements to obtain a US passport.
Investigators gathered evidence, including covert recordings of Rocha confessing to his decades-long collaboration with Cuba, eulogizing the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro as “Commandante,” and labeling the United States as “the enemy.”
Rocha and his legal team concluded that pleading guilty was the most prudent course of action.
The BBC has reached out to his attorney for comment.
Effectively, Rocha must now acknowledge the US government’s assertion that he spent the majority of his professional life working for the Cuban Revolution from US posts in Havana and Buenos Aires while concurrently advancing within the US diplomatic corps.
There’s been no discussion in court yet of Mr Rocha’s sentence or whether he accepted a plea bargain in exchange for cooperation.
James Olson, the CIA’s former head of counterintelligence, told BBC News last month that the case illustrates how Cuba’s intelligence services outwitted the US government.
“They owned us. They beat us. That’s one of the reasons I have this personal grudge against the Cuban intelligence service because they have been so successful in operating against us,” said Mr Olson.
“He’s a traitor. He betrayed our country. I think that’s contemptible, and I don’t think he will see the light of day again,” he added.
The US and Cuba have had a fraught relationship since Fidel Castro overthrew a US-backed government over 60 years ago.
The US imposed a trade embargo against Cuba in the 1960s. Former President Barack Obama and former Cuban President Raul Castro took steps to normalize relations in 2015, though former US President Donald Trump later reversed many of these actions.
Born in Colombia, Mr Rocha was raised in New York City and obtained degrees from Yale, Harvard, and Georgetown.
According to prosecutors, he worked as US ambassador to Bolivia from 1999 to 2002 and served in several government roles – including at the National Security Council – for 25 years. In addition to Bolivia, he has also served in postings in Argentina, Honduras, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.
After leaving the diplomatic service, he continued in a lucrative private role consulting job as a special advisor to the US Southern Command, the part of the US military that oversees Cuba.
In November 2022, an undercover FBI agent contacted Mr Rocha via WhatsApp, claiming to be a representative of Cuban Intelligence Services delivering a message from “your friends from Havana”, the charging document stated.
Mr Rocha agreed to meet the agent several times, including once at a food court, because there was “no possibility for anyone to see me” there, he said, according to court documents.
During three meetings with the undercover FBI agent, Rocha began to divulge details about his time working as a secret agent for the Cuban government, the charging document described.
Mr Rocha allegedly used the term “we” to describe Cuba and himself, and said he wanted to “protect … what we have done”.
When the agent, posing as a Cuban spy, asked him “Are you still with us?” Mr Rocha responded that he was “angry” to have his loyalty questioned.
“It’s like questioning my manhood,” he said.
