A former US ambassador was sentenced to 15 years in jail on Friday after pleading guilty to allegations of working as a covert agent for Cuba’s intelligence service for decades.
The Justice Department had classified Victor Manuel Rocha’s, 73, actions as one of the most significant and far-reaching infiltrations of the United States government in history.
Rocha was detained at his Miami home six months ago on charges of engaging in clandestine activity on Cuba’s behalf since at least 1981. He surreptitiously backed Cuba’s ruling Communist Party and spied on Washington for more than four decades, including his tenure as US ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002 and a 20-year stint at the State Department.
The former State Department official, who previously worked on the National Security Council and as US ambassador to Bolivia, admits to spying on the United States for nearly 40 years, beginning clandestine activities in 1973. Rocha, who was born in Colombia, became a naturalized US citizen in 1978 and began his rise through the State Department levels in 1981, according to prosecutors.
