Former U.S. ambassador arrested on charges of being an agent for Cuba since 1981

MIAMI —A former U.S. ambassador was arrested on charges of secretly working for Cuba and boasting that his decades of work for Havana had “strengthened the revolution immensely,” authorities said Monday.

Victor Manuel Rocha, the onetime U.S. envoy to Bolivia, appeared to choke back tears at the defense table as family members entered the courtroom of Chief Magistrate Judge Edwin G. Torres in Miami.

The judge asked Rocha, 73, whether he understood the charges, and the defendant responded, “I understand.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the arrest “exposes one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent.”

“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,” Garland told reporters Monday. “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.”

U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia, Manuel Rocha — Victor Manuel Rocha, then the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, talks to the media on July 11, 2001.Gonzalo Espinoza / AFP via Getty Images file

Rocha is being accused of working to promote the Cuban government’s interests, which is not a crime unless it’s done on U.S. soil without registering with the Justice Department as a foreign lobbyist.

The government claims Rocha has been working on behalf of Havana from November 1981 to now.

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One Comment

KBYN December 5, 2023 at 21:25

Rocha is being accused of working to promote the Cuban government’s interests, which is not a crime unless it’s done on U.S. soil without registering with the Justice Department as a foreign lobbyist.

An American can commit the crime of espionage against the U.S. anywhere on Earth. It need not occur on U.S. soil to be prosecuted.