2024-04-06 01:45:42
Photo: Twitter
Text: Hugo León
Former US diplomat Manuel Rocha, who was ambassador of the northern nation in various countries and special advisor to the government, admits to having served as an agent of the Cuban government for decades.
According to a report from the Associated Press (AP), Rocha, 73, told a federal judge that he would plead “guilty” to several of the conspiracy charges against him, including acting as an agent. for a foreign government.
Such news marks an unexpected turn in what many consider one of the greatest betrayals by an official in the history of American foreign diplomacy.
His admission of guilt is part of an agreement between the defense and the prosecutor in the case, AP says. However, the agreed sentence is unknown and the defendant must return to court in April, when he will enter his guilty plea and receive the sentence.
“I agree,” Rocha said in handcuffs when District Court Judge Beth Bloom asked him if he wanted to change his plea to guilty, according to the AP. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop 13 other charges against him, including wire fraud and false statements.
Rocha would have spied for several decades for the Havana government, something that until just two weeks ago he flatly denied.
FBI arrests former ambassador Manuel Rocha, accused of being a Cuban agent
Prosecutors say Rocha engaged in clandestine activities on behalf of the Cuban government since at least 1981, including meeting with Cuban intelligence agents and providing false information to U.S. officials.
To date, little is known about what Manuel Rocha did in favor of Cuba while he was a diplomat and later during his career as an advisor to the United States Southern Command, as an analyst for the issue of Latin America and his work in consulting firms and conferences. .
Rocha was born in Colombia but grew up in New York and studied at prestigious American universities, such as Harvard and Yale, and worked as a diplomat for 25 years, a good part of which he was assigned to Latin America.
During that time Fidel Castro was in power, and Rocha, among other positions, was part of the United States Interests Section in Cuba. Washington and Havana did not have diplomatic relations then.
Rocha was arrested following an FBI investigation and US Attorney General Merrick Garland called the crimes of which he is accused “one of the most far-reaching and longest-lasting leaks in the US government by an agent.” foreign”.