A former United States ambassador, Victor Manuel Rocha, has been indicted for having spied for “more than 40 years” for the benefit of Cuba, a historic enemy of Washington, the American Department of Justice announced on Monday.
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This case is “one of the longest infiltrations, and involving the most significant levels, of a foreign agent within the American state,” Justice Minister Merrick Garland said in a statement. .
According to the prosecution, “for more than 40 years, Mr. Rocha worked as an undercover agent of the Cuban state,” Mr. Garland told reporters.
The former diplomat “sought and obtained positions within the US state apparatus that would give him access to non-public information and an ability to influence US foreign policy,” he said. he added in the press release.
AFP
Arrested Friday in Miami following an FBI investigation involving an undercover agent, he is expected for a first hearing Monday in federal court in Florida.
“Warmest regards”
Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, held very senior positions within American diplomacy: before ending his career at the State Department as ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002, he was notably a member of the National Security Council, White House organ, from 1994 to 1995, under President Bill Clinton.
He was also stationed in numerous American embassies in Latin America, including that of Havana, according to a court document.
Born in Colombia and a naturalized American, Mr. Rocha began working for Cuba’s communist government in 1981 in its main intelligence agency, according to the prosecution.
According to the Justice Department, even after leaving the State Department in 2002 after about 30 years of service, he continued his spying work for Cuba. Mr. Rocha was notably an advisor to the US Southern Command, the body which coordinates the American armed forces in Latin America, including Cuba.
Mr. Rocha was confused by a member of the American federal police (FBI) who posed, in 2022 and 2023, as an agent of the Cuban intelligence services, according to a court document.
After receiving a “Whatsapp message” from the undercover agent, Mr. Rocha went (carefully avoiding being followed) to a meeting with this fake Cuban agent, who hid a microphone and camera to collect his confidences.
He talks about his false life as a “right-wing person”, talks about his “comrades” in Cuba, asks the fake liaison officer to send his “warm regards” to the intelligence directorate in Havana or talks about the ” great sacrifice” that his life as a secret agent was for him.
What he did for “nearly 40 years” for the communist government of Havana was “enormous”, “more than a Grand Slam”, he congratulates himself during a second meeting in Miami with this undercover FBI agent.
The former ambassador, living in Miami, “always referred to the United States as ‘the enemy’ and used the word ‘we’ to describe Cuba and himself,” the Justice Department said.
Other espionage cases
Friday, December 1, questioned freely by the security service of the American diplomacy before his arrest, he lied “repeatedly” and denied having met the FBI agent undercover, the court document further notes.
The State Department will “study” with the intelligence agencies the “long-term consequences on national security” of this affair, its spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday.
Numerous espionage cases have marred relations between the two countries, enemies since the communist revolution in Cuba in 1959, in the midst of the Cold War.
In 2001, Ana Belén Montes, a military intelligence analyst, was arrested for espionage, admitting to having collected intelligence for nearly a decade for Cuba.
The CIA, the American secret service, made numerous attempts to assassinate Cuban leaders after the failure of the landing in the Bay of Pigs in 1961.
The relationship between Washington and the communist island, subject to the American embargo since 1962, remains tense. Before leaving office in early 2021, Donald Trump reinstated Cuba on the list of countries supporting terrorism – a registration still in force despite discussions revived by the administration of President Joe Biden.
