Former U.S. diplomat Victor Manuel Rocha has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for espionage, having served as a spy for the Republic of Cuba for over four decades. The 73-year-old Rocha is a former U.S. Department of State employee who worked on the National Security Council from 1994 to 1995, and later served as the U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002. 

After initially pleading not guilty, Rocha changed his plea in February, opting to avoid a trial that would have revealed new details on the specific acts Rocha carried out to assist the Cuban government.

In a federal courtroom in Miami on Friday, Rocha, clad in a beige jail uniform, declared, "I plead guilty." He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government and defrauding the United States. As part of a plea deal, Rocha also pled guilty to acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government without notice to the US government, in exchange for federal prosecutors dropping 13 counts including wire fraud and making false statements.

Rocha told friends and family that he was “deeply sorry” for his actions and said, “I take full responsibility."

U.S. District Court Judge Beth Bloom told the defendant that betrayed the country, 

You turned your back on this country over and over again.

Bloom also said that the crime was an "direct attack" on U.S. citizens, telling Rocha,

Your actions were a direct attack to our democracy and the safety of our citizens.

Rocha was arrested in December 2023, with the Department of Justice accusing Rocha of leveraging his access to classified information and foreign policy matters to aid Cuba. The charges against him included conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government and using a passport obtained through false statements.

Upon Rocha's arrest, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that Rocha performed one of the “longest-lasting infiltrations” of the U.S. government by a foreign agent. 

Garland said,

This action exposes one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent. We allege that for over 40 years, Victor Manuel Rocha served as an agent of the Cuban government and sought out and obtained positions within the United States government that would provide him with access to non-public information and the ability to affect U.S. foreign policy. 

Those who have the privilege of serving in the government of the United States are given an enormous amount of trust by the public we serve. To betray that trust by falsely pledging loyalty to the United States while serving a foreign power is a crime that will be met with the full force of the Justice Department.

Federal authorities have been conducting a confidential damage assessment, a process that may take years to complete. On Friday, the State Department said it would continue working with the intelligence community “to fully assess the foreign policy and national security implications of these charges.” 

An investigation conducted by the Associated Press included revelations from nearly two decades ago, when a longtime CIA operative received a warning that Rocha was acting as a double agent. Intelligence reports also indicate that the CIA was aware as early as 1987 of a "super mole" within the US government, suspected by some officials to be Rocha. While the tip was reported, it was thought to be a "smear campaign," and not credible. 

In 1973, Rocha graduated from Yale and traveled to Chile, where prosecutors allege he developed a close relationship with Cuba's intelligence agency, the General Directorate of Intelligence (DGI). 

Through undisclosed methods, the FBI gained knowledge before November 2022 that Rocha was likely working as a Cuban agent. That month, an undercover agent reached out to Rocha via WhatsApp, claiming to have a message from "our friends in Havana." The following day, Rocha met with the agent at a food truck park in Miami, where Rocha spoke openly about his long-standing ties to the Cuban DGI and expressed his willingness to continue collaborating with them. 

The undercover FBI agent caught Rocha, on tap,e praising Cuba's Revolutionary dictator Fidel Castro as "El Comandante," and boasting about his contributions to Cuba's communist regime, describing it as "more than a grand slam," against the U.S. "enemy." The two individuals met twice more, before Rocha's arrest in December 2023.

In an effort to conceal his actual loyalties, Rocha reportedly assumed the persona of a staunch Donald Trump supporter who vocally opposed the island nation and communism, a facade noted by both prosecutors and friends of Rocha. 

In addition to the 15-year prison sentence, Rocha was ordered to pay a $500,000 fine and cooperate with authorities.

Spying for Cuba: Former U.S. Ambassador Will Plead Guilty to Two Counts

Manuel Rocha, Former US Ambassador, Arrested on Suspicion of Acting As a Secret Agent for Cuba