Ex-US Ambassador a Cuba Spy? Manuel Rocha Calls America 'The Enemy' [REPORT]
Victor Manuel Rocha may have served as US Ambassador to Bolivia under two presidents, but as it turns out, he may have also been a spy for Cuba. Moreso, court documents have shown that he may have actually hated the United States secretly as he covertly worked for the rogue Caribbean state.
Recently unsealed court documents showed that Victor Manuel Rocha "secretly supported the Republic of Cuba and its clandestine intelligence-gathering mission against the United States by serving as a covert agent of Cuba's intelligence services."
CNN noted that he served as the US ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002 under the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. Before that, he was the Deputy Principal Officer of the US Interests Section in Cuba during the 1990s, as well as an employee for the US embassy in the Dominican Republic in the 1980s. He also served different roles in the US consulate in Italy and the US embassies in Mexico and Argentina.
Rocha reportedly had several meetings with an undercover FBI agent who was posing as a member of Cuban intelligence. During those meetings, the disgraced former US ambassador to Bolivia reportedly praised Cuba's former leader, Fidel Castro, and also referred to the US as "the enemy." He reportedly also called Castro the "Comandante."
He may have also been responsible for helping the Cuban government shoot down two unarmed airplanes operated by members of Brothers to the Rescue and killing four people aboard.
The organization was a US-based group opposed to Castro's government, and the attack happened when he was still working for the State Department in Havana.
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Attorney General Merrick Garland Addresses Victor Manuel Rocha - Cuba Espionage Issue
Rocha was only arrested in Miami last Friday as he continued living life as if he were a US citizen who continued working for the US government. Soon after his arrest, US Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke with reporters and said that the Victor Manuel Rocha case was "one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations" of the US government by a foreign agent.
"For over 40 years, Victor Manuel Rocha served as an agent of the Cuban government and sought out and obtained positions within the United States government that would provide him with access to non-public information and the ability to affect US foreign policy," the AG told reporters.
Who Is Former US Ambassador to Bolivia and Accused Cuban Spy Victor Manuel Rocha?
Although he was raised in New York City, Rocha was actually born in Colombia. As he grew up in the US, he studied in some of the finest institutions in the country and obtained degrees from Yale, Harvard, and Georgetown.
Now that he is arrested, he faces several charges, including conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General and with using a passport obtained by false statement.
According to Yahoo! Finance, he is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Monday.
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This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Rick Martin
WATCH: Former US ambassador charged with being covert agent for Cuba - CNN
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