Former US Diplomat Accused Of Working As Secret Agent For Cuba: DOJ

MIAMI, FL — A former U.S. diplomat who spent decades representing the nation in multiple countries has been accused of serving as a secret agent for communist Cuba, according to federal authorities.

Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, was arrested Friday at his Miami home and charged with conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government and acting as an agent of a foreign government, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Rocha, who began his career with the State Department in 1981, was ordered held following a brief court appearance Monday pending a bond hearing Wednesday.

“This action exposes one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. "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.”

According to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday, Rocha, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Colombia, worked for the U.S. Department of State between 1981 and 2002. He served in multiple roles, including the U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002. He was also a member of the National Security Council from 1994 to 1995, authorities said.

As a State Department employee, authorities said Rocha had access to non-public and classified information and the ability to affect U.S. foreign policy.

Starting in 1981 and continuing to the present day, authorities said Rocha secretly supported Cuba and its intelligence-gathering mission against the United States by serving as a covert agent of Cuba’s General Directorate of Intelligence.

After his State Department employment ended, authorities said Rocha continued to support Cuba’s intelligence services while also serving as an advisor to the commander of the U.S. Southern Command, a joint command of the United States military whose area of responsibility includes Cuba.

The Justice Department did not reveal how Rocha attracted the attention of Cuba’s intelligence operatives and did not describe what, if any, sensitive information he may have provided.

Instead, the case relies mostly on what prosecutors say were Rocha's admissions, made over the past year to an undercover FBI agent posing as a Cuban intelligence operative named “Miguel.”

During the meetings, Rocha made repeated statements admitting his "decades" of work for Cuba that spanned 40 years, authorities said. According to the complaint, Rocha also consistently referred to the United States as "the enemy" and used the term "we" to describe himself and Cuba.

“What we have done … it’s enormous … more than a Grand Slam,” he was quoted as saying at one of several secretly recorded conversations.

The FBI's Miami Field Office investigated the case with assistance from the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.