Then he bowed down, AFP via Getty Images
Former US Ambassador to Bolivia Victor Manuel Rocha has been accused of being a Cuban spy for 40 years.
A former US diplomat who served as ambassador to Bolivia has been accused of spying for the Cuban government for more than 40 years.
Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, has been accused of helping Cuba obtain US intelligence since 1981.
Court documents state that Rocha viewed the United States as an “enemy” and that his work as a secret agent “promoted the revolution.”
It was unclear if he had a lawyer to speak on his behalf.
According to the US Department of Justice, the man was arrested last Friday in Miami after an undercover ‘operation’ that lasted more than a year.
US Attorney Merrick Garland called it “the longest and most protracted act of spying on the US government” by foreign spies.
He said: “For more than 40 years, Victor Manuel Rocha worked as a spy for the Cuban government and aspired to a position in the US government.
Born in Colombia, Rocha grew up in New York City and attended Yale, Harvard and Georgetown universities.
According to prosecutors, he was the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia from 1999 to 2002 and held other government positions, including on the National Security Council, for 25 years.
Besides Bolivia, he also worked in Argentina, Honduras, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
The United States and Cuba have had a hostile relationship since Fidel Castro overthrew the Washington-backed government in 1959. In the 1960s, the United States imposed a trade embargo on Cuba.
Former presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro took steps to restore ties in 2015, though Donald Trump has retaliated against many of those obstacles.
Court documents unsealed Monday say Rocha made several trips to Cuba, where he assisted the Cuban government and officials from 1981 to the present.
The documents provide detailed information on the type of information Rocha provided to Cuba, but also describe the undercover FBI ‘operation’ that led to his arrest.
On November 11, 2022, an undercover FBI agent contacted Rocha on WhatsApp, posing as a Cuban intelligence agent, with the message “Your friends in Havana,” according to the indictment.
Rocha allegedly agreed to meet with the spy more than once, including at a grocery store, because “there was no way anyone would see me there,” he said, according to the documents.
During his three meetings with the undercover FBI agent, Rocha began providing him with details about his time as a spy for the Havana government, according to the indictment.
He is said to have told the other spy: “I know very well what I am doing, Tyresian of course [ikigo gishinzwe ubutasi cya Cuba] He helped me… it was a long road and it wasn’t easy.
Prosecutors say he repeatedly “explained and praised his work” as a spy for Cuban intelligence.
Rocha reportedly used the word “we” to describe himself and Cuba, and said he was “to protect…what we have achieved.”
The Cuban spy asked him, “Are you still with us?” Rocha responded that he was “angry” that she had questioned his loyalty.
“It’s like doubting my masculinity,” said Ngo.
In their conversations, he also said that “he was in charge” when there was a “prediction of a small plane”. Prosecutors say that’s when Cuba shot down non-military planes belonging to Brothers to the Rescue, a US-based anti-Castro group.
The operation, which took place in 1996 while Rocha was working in Havana, killed four people.
According to the US Department of Justice, the former diplomat has been charged with providing false and misleading information to the US government and lying to obtain travel documents.
On Monday, Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the ministry, said it would work with US intelligence agencies to reduce the risk of this intrusion into the security system.
“In the coming days, weeks, months, we will work with our intelligence partners to assess the long-term implications of this action on national security,” he told reporters.
