Washington DC: A former career U.S. diplomat told a federal judge Thursday he will plead guilty to charges of working for decades as a secret agent for communist Cuba, an unexpectedly swift resolution to a case prosecutors called one of the most brazen betrayals in the history of the U.S. foreign service. Victor Manuel Rocha, former US ambassador to Bolivia, was indicted by officials in December of last year in connection with allegedly spying for Cuba’s intelligence agency for four decades.
Rocha’s may get a substantial prison sentence as the 73-year-old has expressed his intention to plead guilty to federal charges of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government.
Plea Deal Includes An Agreed-Upon Sentence
Prosecutors and Rocha’s attorney suggested that the plea deal included an agreed-upon sentence, however details regarding it were not disclosed during a hearing on Thursday. Rocha will return to court on April 12, where he is expected to formalise his guilty plea and receive his sentence.
“I am in agreement,” said Rocha, shackled at the hands and ankles, when asked by U.S. District Court Judge Beth Bloom if he wished to change his plea to guilty. Prosecutors, in exchange, agreed to drop 13 counts including wire fraud and making false statements.
The brief hearing on Thursday didn’t not disclose on the question: What exactly did he do to help Cuba while he was working at State Department? His job profile included – ambassador to Bolivia and top posts in Argentina, Mexico, the White House and the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.
“Ambassador Rocha,” as he preferred to be called, was well known among Miami’s elite for his aristocratic, almost regal, bearing befitting his Ivy League background. His post-government career included time as a special adviser to the commander of the U.S. Southern Command and more recently as a tough-talking Donald Trump supporter and Cuba hardliner, a persona friends and prosecutors say Rocha adopted to hide his true allegiances.
FBI Official Demands Fast Resolution Of The Case
FBI official Peter Lapp, who looked after counterintelligence against Cuba between 1998 and 2005, stated that fast resolution of the case will benefit both Rocha and the government.
Usually in counterintelligence cases the accused is charged with espionage but in Rocha is accused of lesser crime which has maximum prison of five and 10 years.
However, the development in the case drew criticism in the Cuban exile community, with legal observers expressed concerned.
“Any sentence that allows him to see the light of day again would not be justice,” said Carlos Trujillo, a Miami attorney who served as U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States during the Trump administration. “He’s a spy for a foreign adversary who put American lives at risk.”
On the other hand Lawrence Gumbiner, a retired career diplomat, stated that Rocha went undetected for decades shows the sophistication of Cuba’s intelligence services.
“It’s a day for reflection for all of us who knew and worked with him,” said Gumbiner, who served as acting U.S. ambassador to Cuba in 2017 and 2018. “Although the full extent of the damage he caused isn’t yet revealed, it’s hard to believe he didn’t pass along some very serious information that compromised our intelligence services and our own efforts against the Castro regime.”
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