The former U.S. ambassador to Bolivia informed a federal judge Thursday that he will plead guilty to charges related to his decades-long campaign to spy on the U.S. government on behalf of communist Cuba.
Manuel Rocha, 73 years old U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom said: He said he accepted a deal offered by federal prosecutors to drop 13 criminal charges, including wire fraud and false statements, in exchange for admitting to conspiracy as an agent of a foreign government.
He believes the two charges could carry a maximum sentence of five to 10 years in prison.
However, prosecutors and the career diplomat’s lawyer also noted that there was an agreement on Rocha’s sentencing, although details were not disclosed.
Mr. Rocha has formally pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced at a hearing on April 12th.
Ministry of Justice Mr. Rocha was indicted in December.the same year he began his long career at the State Department, accused him of working as a secret agent for the Cuban government’s top intelligence agency since 1981.
Rocha held high-ranking positions in several embassies and even the White House during his more than 20 years of official service during the Clinton administration, which he said gave him access to nonpublic and classified information. says the Department of Justice. policy. ”
From 2006 to 2012, after leaving the State Department, Mr. Rocha served as an advisor to the U.S. Southern Command, a Miami-based Department of Defense joint military command center with responsibility for Cuba.
Prosecutors say the Colombian-born Rocha posed as a Cuban hardliner opposed to the communist regime to continue the ruse.
Mr. Rocha was arrested after a series of meetings with an undercover FBI agent posing as a Cuban intelligence official, during which Mr. Rocha admitted to “decades” of espionage for Cuba, spanning “40 years.” Ta.
In a meeting with undercover FBI agents, Rocha called the United States an “enemy” and praised the late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, according to the Justice Department.
The U.S. government has not disclosed what information Mr. Rocha provided to Cuba or how it influenced U.S. policy toward Cuba.
In December, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Rocha had conducted one of the “longest infiltrations” of the United States by a foreign agent.
Carlos Trujillo, a Miami lawyer who served as ambassador to the Organization of American States during the Trump administration, called Rocha’s plea deal a slap on the wrist.
“A sentence that would allow him to see the light of day again would not be justice,” Trujillo told The Associated Press. “He is a spy for a foreign enemy who puts American lives at risk.”
