Former US Ambassador to Bolivia admits in court that he spied for Cuba for decades
Kyiv • UNN
Former US Ambassador to Bolivia Victor Manuel Rocha pleaded guilty to spying for Cuba for decades. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, this is one of the largest and longest-running infiltrations of a foreign agent into the government.
A former US ambassador has pleaded guilty to spying for Cuba for decades. This is evidenced by the minutes of the trial of the former official, which took place on Thursday. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, this is one of the largest and longest penetrations of a foreign agent into the government. Reuters writes about it , UNN reports.
Details
According to the publication, this is Victor Manuel Roche, who served as US Ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002.
According to the court document, Rocha admitted to working for Cuba for a decade during a series of meetings in 2022 and 2023 with an undercover FBI agent posing as a secret representative of Cuba's General Intelligence Directorate.
In December, he was charged with several federal crimes, including acting as an illegal foreign agent and using a fraudulently obtained passport.
The United States has accused Roche of supporting Cuba and its covert intelligence-gathering mission against Washington since 1981.
However, he pleaded not guilty in mid-February, and the parties in the case announced on Thursday that he would "change his plea," according to a record in the online US court record system.
The ex-US ambassador will be officially sentenced on April 12.
For reference
Rocha worked at the State Department from 1981 to 2002, the Justice Department said when he was indicted. He served on the White House National Security Council from 1994 to 1995 and worked as an adviser to the commander of the U.S. Southern Command from about 2006 to 2012.
Roche was arrested on espionage charges last December.
