Ex-US diplomat confessed spying for Cuba to undercover agent, FBI says

DOJ says former US ambassador Manuel Rocha perpetrated 'one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent'

Manuel Rocha
Manuel Rocha in 2001
(Image credit: Gonzalo Espinoza / AFP via Getty Images)

Former top U.S. diplomat Manuel Rocha, arrested Friday, served as a "clandestine agent" of Cuba for his entire 20-year career in the State Department and the two decades after, the Justice Department said in charges unsealed Monday. Rocha, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Colombia, served in embassies across Latin America, ending his tenure as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002. He also worked as a Latin America expert at the National Security Council in the mid-1990s and as adviser to the commander of U.S. Southern Command from 2006 to 2012.

Attorney General Merrick Garland called the Rocha case "one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent." Rocha currently faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, but more charges will likely be filed.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.