Former US ambassador who spied for Cuba sentenced to 15 years

Miami, United States – AFP

A former US ambassador who pleaded guilty to spying for Cuba for over four decades was sentenced on Friday to 15 years in prison.

Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, was arrested in December for what US officials called “one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent.”

Rocha pleaded not guilty in February to charges of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government but later accepted a plea deal with federal prosecutors.

Judge Beth Bloom, after a three-and-a-half hour hearing in Miami on Friday, told Rocha she would give him “the maximum penalty permitted by law.”

In addition to the 15-year sentence, Rocha was given a $500,000 fine.

Rocha, a naturalized US citizen originally from Colombia, allegedly began aiding Havana as a covert agent of Cuba’s General Directorate of Intelligence (DGI) in 1981, and his espionage activities continued until his arrest, according to US authorities.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, announcing Rocha’s arrest in December, said he had “repeatedly referred to the United States as ‘the enemy'” and “repeatedly bragged about the significance of his efforts.”

Rocha joined the State Department in 1981 and rose through the ranks as a career diplomat, serving in posts in Havana, Buenos Aires, Mexico City and Washington.