The United States government confirmed this Monday the arrest of Víctor Manuel Rocha (73 years old) in Miami under accusation of committing “multiple federal crimes” by acting for four decades as a secret agent of the Cuban government.
“This action exposes one of the most far-reaching and longest-running infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.
He US government statement It further notes that Rocha, a former State Department employee, served on the National Security Council between 1994 and 1995 and was the US ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002.
“We allege that for more than 40 years, Victor Manuel Rocha He served as an agent for the Cuban government and sought and obtained positions within the United States government that would provide him with access to non-public information and the ability to affect foreign policy. Those privileged to serve in the United States government receive enormous trust from the public we serve. “Betraying that trust by falsely pledging loyalty while serving a foreign power is a crime that will be punished with the full force of the Department of Justice,” Merrick said.
The director of the FBI, Christopher Wrayrecalled that “US diplomats take an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Acting as an agent of Cuba – a hostile foreign power – is a flagrant violation of that oath and betrays the trust of the people.”
“The FBI will continue to rigorously defend itself against foreign governments that target the United States. We will find and hold accountable anyone who violates their oath, no matter how long it takes,” Wray emphasized.
The Deputy Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the National Security Division of the Department of Justice, said that for decades, “Rocha allegedly worked as an undercover agent for Cuba and abused his position of trust in the United States government to promote the interests of a foreign power.”
The federal prosecutor Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida, insisted that people who break the law by engaging in clandestine activities for hostile foreign states and providing false information about those activities to the U.S. government endanger democracy.
“This is especially true for past or present employees of the United States who took an oath to uphold the Constitution and for American citizens who benefit from the freedoms and opportunities of this country. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our enforcement partners law enforcement in South Florida and elsewhere will continue to vigorously enforce all federal laws,” he noted.
The complaint indicates that from 1981 to the present, Rocha, of Colombian origin and naturalized as an American, secretly supported the Republic of Cuba.
“His clandestine mission was intelligence gathering against the United States serving as an undercover agent, agent of the General Directorate of Intelligence of Cuba,” the text states.
They argue that in order to fulfill that role, the diplomat obtained employment in the State Department between 1981 and 2002, in positions that provided him access to classified information that has the capacity to affect foreign policy.
He ended his employment at the State Department and participated in other events aimed at supporting Cuba’s intelligence services. This period is between 2006 and 2012, when Rocha was an advisor to the Commander of the United States Southern Command, whose area of responsibility includes the Caribbean country.
The statement highlights that Rocha kept his status as a Cuban agent secret to protect himself and others and to participate in additional clandestine activities.
They accuse him of providing false and misleading information to the United States to maintain his secret mission. They allege that he “traveled out of the country to meet with Cuban intelligence agents” and claim that he “made false and misleading statements to obtain travel documents.”
Rocha began his career at the State Department in 1981. He held a wide variety of functions, including:
- From February 1989 to 1991 he was First Secretary of the US at the Embassy in Mexico City.
- From November 1991 to July 1994 he was Deputy Chief of Mission at the United States Embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
- From July 1994 to July 1995 he was employed by the State Department, as Director of Inter-American Affairs at the United States National Security Council, with special responsibility, among other things, for Cuba.
- From July 1995 to July 1997 he was Deputy Principal Officer of the United States Interests Section in Havana.
- From July 1997 to November 1999 he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the United States Embassy in Buenos Aires.
- From November 1999 to August 2002 he was Ambassador to Bolivia at the United States Embassy in La Paz.
During 2022 and 2023, in meetings with an undercover FBI agent posing as an undercover representative of the Cuban General Directorate of Intelligence, Rocha confessed his “decades” of work for Cuba.
The agent told Rocha that he was an undercover representative in Miami whose mission was to be his new contact and establish a new communication plan. “Rocha answered ‘Yes’ and proceeded to engage in a long conversation during which he described and celebrated his activity as a Cuban intelligence agent,” the statement said.
During several of these meetings, the former ambassador presented himself as a Cuban agent, referring to the United States as “the enemy” and using the term “we” to describe himself and Cuba.
In these meetings he is also accused of having praised the figure of Fidel Castro, calling him “the Commander” and referring to his contacts in Cuban counterintelligence as his “companions.”
Furthermore, Rocha called the Cuban intelligence services the “Directorate” and described their work as “a grand slam.”
Victor Manuel Rocha faces a charge of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General.
He is also accused of “acting as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General and with the use of a passport obtained by false declaration.”
His initial appearance before a federal judge in Miami must take place on December 4.
The investigation into this case remains open and under the responsibility of the FBI Field Office in Miami, with collaboration of the Diplomatic Security Service of the Department of State and the FBI Field Office in Washington.
“Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan D. Stratton and John C. Shipley of the Southern District of Florida, along with trial attorneys Heather M. Schmidt and Christine A. Bonomo of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section of the Division of Homeland Security are processing the case,” as specified in the statement.
The US authorities recalled that a criminal complaint is only an accusation. “All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”
