A former U.S. ambassador to Bolivia and a National Security Council member have pleaded guilty to secretly acting as agents for the government of Cuba. The defendant, Victor Manuel Rocha, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his involvement in clandestine intelligence-gathering missions against the U.S. government.
A former U.S. ambassador to Bolivia and a National Security Council member pleaded guilty on Friday to secretly acting for decades as an agent of the government of the Republic of Cuba, according to the Department of Justice . A federal judge sentenced Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, of Miami, to 15 years in prison for working against the U.S. government for decades for communist Cuba in 'clandestine intelligence-gathering missions.
Rocha was a former U.S. Department of State employee who served on the National Security Council from 1994 to 1995, and as U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002. 'Victor Manuel Rocha secretly acted for decades as an agent of a hostile foreign power. He thought the story of his covert mission for Cuba would never be told because he had the intelligence, knowledge, and discipline to never to be detected.
Under the terms of the parties’ plea agreement, Rocha must cooperate with the U.S., including assisting with any damage assessment related to his work on behalf of the Republic of Cuba. Rocha must relinquish all future retirement benefits, including pension payments, owed to him by the U.S. based upon his former State Department employment. He must also assign to the U.S. any profits that he may be entitled to receive in connection with any publication relating to his criminal conduct or his U.
The DOJ said that Rocha provided false and misleading information to the U.S. to maintain his secret status, traveled outside the U.S. to meet with Cuban intelligence operatives, and made false and misleading statements to obtain travel documents.
He also allegedly told the undercover agent that his efforts to infiltrate the U.S. government were 'meticulous and very disciplined' and he repeatedly bragged about the significance of his efforts, saying that 'what has been done has strengthened the revolution immensely,' Garland previously said.
U.S. Ambassador National Security Council Guilty Plea Cuban Agent Prison Sentence Clandestine Intelligence-Gathering Missions
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