a former ambassador suspected of 40 years of espionage for Cuba

This case is “one of the longest infiltrations, and affecting the most significant levels, of a foreign agent within the American state”, estimated the Minister of Justice Merrick Garland.

It’s a story that they make movies about in Hollywood. A former United States ambassador was summoned to court Monday, December 4 for a first hearing in a federal court in Miami, accused of having been a spy for Cuba for more than 40 years.

Victor Rocha was born in Colombia before becoming a naturalized American. His career is an example of progress in American administration. He held several positions in the American embassies in Mexico, Argentina and the Dominican Republic, then joined the National Security Council of the White House in 1994 and 1995, during the Clinton presidency. Finally, between 2000 and 2002, Victor Rocha became United States ambassador to Bolivia.

However, since 1981, he has worked for Cuba’s main intelligence agency, and his slow rise within the State Department allowed him to have access to confidential documents and, therefore, influence on American foreign policy.

A false liaison agent to confuse the double game

The American authorities had suspicions, and to confirm them, a real counter-intelligence operation was mounted. An undercover FBI agent posed late last year as a member of the Cuban secret service and contacted him via WhatsApp to confirm doubts about him.

The agent meets Victor Rocha at a highway rest area in Miami. And this is where he reveals his double game, describes his meticulous, disciplined process for spying all these years. The enemy in his mouth is the United States. Then, the spy praises Fidel Castro, mentions his “comrades” in Cuba, asks the fake liaison officer to send his “warmest regards” to the intelligence directorate in Havana and talks about “great sacrifice” what was his life as a secret agent for him.
What he did during “nearly 40 years”It is “more than a Grand Slam”he congratulated himself during a second meeting in Miami with the same agent.

Even in retirement, influence and espionage

Even after leaving the State Department in 2002 after about 30 years of service, he continued his spying work for Cuba, according to the US Department of Justice. Hired as an international affairs advisor in consulting and law firms in Florida, he was notably an advisor for the US Southern Command, the body which coordinates the US armed forces in Latin America, including Cuba.

This case is “one of the longest, and at the highest levels, infiltrations of a foreign agent into the American state”Justice Minister Merrick Garland said in a statement on Monday.