Former US ambassador unexpectedly admits to spying for Cuba for decades

Manuel Rocha, 73, the former US ambassador to Bolivia, was charged with acting as a secret foreign agent of Cuba. On February 29, he told a court in Miami (Florida, USA) that he intended to plead guilty to the charges in court documents.

Mr. Rocha was charged with several crimes, including acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government, wire fraud and making false statements to investigators. Prosecutors allege the American diplomat acted as a “secret agent of Cuban intelligence” for decades.

Rocha pleaded not guilty in early February, but at a hearing in Miami on Feb. 29, court records show he changed his plea to guilty. The records do not provide any specifics on what charges Rocha plans to plead guilty to. Manuel Rocha is scheduled to return to court on April 12.

Prosecutors allege that Mr. Rocha has been involved in Cuban covert activity since at least 1981, the year he joined the U.S. diplomatic service, including meeting with Cuban intelligence agents and providing false information to U.S. government officials about his contacts.

Manuel Rocha had a career as an American diplomat spanning two decades. He served as the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002 and as deputy chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba in the 1990s. The diplomat also worked at the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic in the 1980s, as well as the U.S. Consulate in Italy, and in various roles at the U.S. embassies in Mexico and Argentina.

Prosecutors allege that Manuel Rocha's role as a political officer at the US Embassy in the Dominican Republic enabled him to be given special responsibility for Cuba.

According to court documents, in several meetings with an undercover FBI agent posing as a member of Cuban intelligence, Mr. Rocha repeatedly called the United States an “enemy” and praised the Cuban side.