The former US ambassador to Bolivia, accused of spying for Cuba for more than 40 years, will plead guilty. new york post It was reported on Friday.
Manuel Rocha, 73, was charged with “covertly acting for decades as an agent of the government of the Republic of Cuba and committing multiple federal crimes,” according to the Department of Justice. press release From December.
On Thursday, Rocha informed U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom of his intention to plead guilty, the newspaper reported. As part of the plea deal offered by federal prosecutors, 13 criminal charges against him will be dropped. Rocha will no longer be charged with wire fraud and making false statements in exchange for pleading guilty to two charges, including conspiracy as an agent of a foreign government. Prosecutors and Mr. Rocha have already agreed on a sentence, but details have not been disclosed, the news agency said.
Mr. Rocha has pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 12.
According to the Justice Department, Rocha first joined the U.S. State Department in 1981, working as a secret agent in Cuba. He then served as a member of the National Security Council from 1994 to 1995, and then as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002. Rocha had access to nonpublic and classified information while working for the federal government, the Justice Department said. He also had “the ability to influence U.S. foreign policy.”
It is unclear how precisely Mr. Rocha influenced foreign policy to benefit Cuba or what sensitive information he disclosed to hostile foreign officials.
Prosecutors argued that Mr. Rocha continued to cover up by pretending to oppose Cuba’s communist regime. During a series of meetings with an undercover FBI agent posing as a Cuban agent, Rocha referred to the United States as the “enemy” and “praised Fidel Castro as ‘Commander,'” the Justice Department alleged.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland called Rocha’s espionage efforts “one of the most extensive and long-lasting infiltrations of the U.S. government by foreign agents.”
said Carlos Trujillo, a lawyer and former ambassador to the Organization of American States during the Trump administration. Associated Press“A sentence that would allow him to see the light of day again would not be justice.”
“He is a spy for a foreign enemy who puts American lives at risk,” he added.
Posted by U.S. Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) X In response to his pending guilty plea, he said: “The Cuban regime’s aggressive and anti-American activities once again highlight the broader threat to U.S. national security interests. “Betrayal of the people may have tragically contributed to the death of the Cuban democracy activist,” the widow of slain activist Oswaldo Paya claims in a new lawsuit. ”
Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya died in 2012 when his car crashed into a tree. Cuba ruled the fatal crash an accident, but survivors claimed a vehicle with government plates slammed into the back of Paya’s car, causing the collision.of Inter-American Commission on Human Rights They also found evidence that the government was involved in the activist’s death.
Paya’s wife Ofelia filed a lawsuit in Miami on Thursday accusing Rocha of being an “accomplice” in her husband’s alleged “assassination.” AP report.
Rocha’s lawyer did not respond to requests for comment from media outlets.
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