Former US Ambassador Manuel Rocha admitted to spying for Cuba for decades

Former American Ambassador Manuel RochaAccusation Spying for Cuba For more than 40 years, surprise this Thursday Accept the charges assigned to him and assure a federal judge that he will plead guilty on April 12, when he must appear in court. The news surprised the magistrates investigating the case, who had not expected such a quick resolution to what they called the most brazen betrayal in the history of the country’s foreign service.

“I agree,” Rocha told Judge Beth Bloom when she asked him if he stood by his guilty plea. Now, it remains to be known the sentence he will receive, which according to his lawyer, has already been defined but has not yet been announced.

Rocha, 73, is accused of acting as an agent of a foreign government and thus participating in “covert activities” on behalf of Cuba since at least 1981, his first year in office. During these more than 40 years, he maintained Meetings with Havana intelligence agents And gave wrong information to Washington officials, among other issues.

A diplomat with a decades-long career, including senior posts in Bolivia, Argentina, the United States Interests Department in Havana and special adviser to the commander of the Southern Command, was secretly arrested at his home in Miami last December. FBI operations.

During 2023, under the false identity of Miguel, a Cuban intelligence agent, an undercover agent of the agency met repeatedly with Rocha. In these meetings, former diplomat Dr Appreciated the late Fidel CastroHe was considered a “general”, Described the United States as the “enemy”. and recognized his services to the governance of the island.

“What we have done… is enormous… more than a Grand Slam”, he admitted in several secretly recorded conversations.

Rocha’s guilty plea came on the same day that the widow of a prominent Cuban dissident, Osvaldo Paya, died in a mysterious car accident, filed a complaint against him. His wife, Ofelia Pay, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the former diplomat in a Miami court, accusing him of having secret information that encouraged Cuban communist leaders to assassinate Oswaldo, a key opponent of the ruling party.

Pye died in 2012 after his car crashed into a tree in the east of the island. Authorities claimed the incident was due to driver error, but a survivor claimed the vehicle was rammed from behind by a red Lada with government plates. This version was supported by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which concluded that state security agents probably participated in the activist’s death.

Rocha directly assisted Cuban officials, providing them with vital information obtained through his top secret security clearance and influential roles. “Cuba could not have executed Peña with impunity without providing intelligence and assistance to the Cuban conspiracy and the Cuban dictatorship.”The lawsuit suggests that it names him as an “accomplice to murder.”

“Under this guise of loyalty and service to the United States, the accused maintained a secret allegiance to the Cuban regime,” the brief concludes.

(with information from AP)