A spy who worked for the Cuban communist regime rose to a high position as a US diplomat.
Manuel Rocha admits to having supplied secret information to the Cuban communist regime since 1981. ZumaWire / MVPHOTOS
73-year-old Manuel Rocha admits that he spied for the Cuban communist regime for decades.
Rocha is a former diplomat who has worked, among other things, as the US ambassador to Bolivia. He was caught by FBI agents posing as Cuban intelligence officials.
Lobbing to FBI agents, Rocha called the United States “the enemy” and boasted that he had been spying on the heart of American foreign policy for more than 40 years.
According to the BBC, Rocha was hurt when he thought the agents were questioning his loyalty to Cuba.
– It’s like my masculinity is being questioned, Rocha is reported to have said.
Officials have been tight-lipped about how Rocha concretely helped Cuba.
No alarm bells went off
FBI agents contacted Rocha at the end of 2022. According to the AP news agency’s report, the authorities’ alarm bells should have rung much earlier.
A longtime CIA employee received a tip in 2006 that Rocha was said to be working as a double agent. The tip was never investigated.
The CIA is said to have been aware of the “super mole” that had advanced deep into the US administration as early as 1987. The authorities had doubts about Rocha’s role.
Sentencing in April
According to the Guardian, which reports on the matter, Rocha’s confession took place just hours after the widow of a prominent Cuban opposition figure filed a lawsuit against Rocha.
The widow accuses Rocha of sharing intelligence, which was encouraged by the Cuban communist regime to assassinate her husband. A man died in a car accident.
In the media, Rocha’s confession is characterized as surprising. The purpose of the session organized on Thursday was to discuss how documents classified as secret are opened for legal proceedings.
Instead, Rocha, his lawyer and the prosecutor announced that the parties had reached an agreement during the plea negotiations.
Rocha is scheduled to receive his sentence at a court hearing on April 12.
Worked in the Security Council
Born in Colombia, Rocha grew up in New York. He obtained degrees from prestigious universities, for example Yale and Harvard universities.
During his diplomatic career, he worked, among other things, at the US National Security Council.
After his diplomatic work, Rocha consulted for the US Southern Command Center, the part of the defense forces that oversees Cuba.
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