Former U.S. ambassador charged with being an agent for Cuba
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U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, Victor Manuel Rocha, talks to the press 11 July 2001.Gonzalo Espinoza / AFP via Getty Images -
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Monday that Victor Manuel Rocha, the former U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, has been charged with acting illegally as a foreign agent for the government of Cuba.Drew Angerer / Getty Images
A longtime U.S. diplomat who served as ambassador to Bolivia has been arrested and charged with being a clandestine agent for the Cuban government.
Victor Manuel Rocha was formally charged today in federal court in Miami. Prosecutors say Rocha's illegal work with Cuba spanned 40 years, including his 20 years as a State Department employee.
Rocha was born in Colombia and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1978. According to the criminal complaint, he began working for the State Department in 1981. Over the next two decades, he held positions at U.S. embassies in Mexico, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Argentina and Bolivia where he served as ambassador.
From 1995 to 1997, he was stationed in the U.S. Interest Section in Havana, Cuba.
"This action exposes one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in Washington following Rocha's arrest.
Rocha is charged with conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government and with passport fraud.
"Like all federal officials, U.S. diplomats swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. Acting as an agent for Cuba – a hostile foreign power – is a blatant violation of that oath and betrays the trust of the American people," FBI Director Christopher Wray said.
In the complaint, prosecutors say the FBI was alerted of Rocha's alleged work for Cuba in 2022. An FBI undercover employee, posing as a Cuban agent, then contacted Rocha and held a series of meetings with him in Miami. In those meetings, the complaint says Rocha admitted to being a Cuban agent for nearly four decades.
His stint in the U.S. Interest Section in Havana between 1995 and 1997 was at a time of heightened tensions between the two countries. In February 1996, the Cuban military shot down two airplanes operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a U.S. group opposed to the Castro regime. Four people were killed. At one of the meetings with an undercover FBI employee, Rocha called it "the knock down of the small planes." He said, "Brothers to the Rescue and other similar people ...were pushing politics toward unnecessary provocations."
In 2002, while serving as ambassador to Bolivia, Rocha inserted himself into that country's presidential race, warning Bolivians that if they elected former coca grower Evo Morales President, the U.S. might retaliate by cutting aid. The move gave the leftist Morales a boost, and is credited with helping him win election three years later.
The federal criminal complaint doesn't cite any specific episodes where Rocha's work for Cuba undermined U.S. policy or interests. In his meetings with the FBI informant, Rocha appears to have grown increasingly confident and bragged about the importance of the information he provided the Cuban government.
"For me, what has been done, has strengthened the Revolution," he said. "What he have done...it's enormous...More than a grand slam."
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Transcript
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
A longtime U.S. diplomat has been arrested and charged with being a secret agent of the Cuban government. Victor Manuel Rocha was a State Department employee for more than 20 years. Prosecutors say that during that time and in the 20 years after he retired from government, Rocha was an illegal agent for Cuba. He was charged today in federal court in Miami. That's where NPR's Greg Allen is, and he joins us now. Hi, Greg.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: Hi, Ailsa.
CHANG: OK. So the government is saying now that Rocha was a Cuban agent for 40 years. And during that entire time, he worked for the State Department, right? But he wasn't caught until now. How did the government finally discover all of this?
ALLEN: Well, you know, Rocha was arrested at his home here in Miami on Friday. We didn't learn of the arrest until yesterday, and details really didn't start coming out until the criminal complaint was unsealed today. According to the complaint, the FBI was alerted of Rocha's alleged work for Cuba in 2022. An FBI undercover employee posing as a Cuban agent then contacted Rocha and held a series of meetings with him in Miami. The meetings were held at a food court in Miami's Brickell neighborhood, where Rocha told the FBI informant that he didn't think he'd be recognized. There were three meetings with the undercover informant, and over time, Rocha appears to have become more relaxed. He began to brag about his work for the Cuban government. The complaint says Rocha admitted that he was a Cuban agent for nearly four decades. He made a brief appearance in court in Miami today, where he's reported to have broken down in tears, and prosecutors indicated more charges may be coming.
CHANG: Wow. So tell us more about this man, Victor Manuel Rocha. And how important was the information that he provided?
ALLEN: Well, the second question is hard to answer at this point. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland today called it one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent. But the criminal complaint doesn't cite any specific episodes where Rocha's work for Cuba undermined U.S. policies or interests. As for his background, Rocha was born in Colombia, became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1978. He began working for the State Department in 1981. Over the next two decades, he held positions at U.S. embassies in Mexico, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Argentina and Bolivia, where he served as ambassador. And from 1995 to 1997, he was stationed in the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Cuba.
CHANG: Well, the way I understand it, Rocha allegedly spied for Cuba during the '80s and '90s. And then the mid-1990s - I mean, that was an essentially tense time in U.S.-Cuba relations, right? What was his role during that decade allegedly?
ALLEN: Right. He was at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana at that time. And that was at a time - in 1996, there was an international crisis when the Cuban military shot down two airplanes operated by Brothers to the Rescue. And that's a U.S. group based in Miami that's opposed to the Castro regime. Four people were killed in the shootdown. Rocha said it happened after, quote, "Brothers to the Rescue and other similar people were pushing politics toward unnecessary provocations." And that's a real raw wound still for many here in Miami.
CHANG: So Rocha - I mean, he also served as the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia between 1999 and 2002. Is there any indication that he helped the Cuban government during that time?
ALLEN: Well, in 2002, while serving as ambassador, Rocha inserted himself into Bolivia's presidential race. He gave a speech in which he warned Bolivians that if they elected former coca grower Evo Morales president, the U.S. might retaliate. That move gave Morales a boost and might have helped him get elected president three years later.
CHANG: Fascinating. That is NPR's Greg Allen in Miami. Thank you, Greg.
ALLEN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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