Former US Ambassador Who Spied for Cuba for Decades to Be Sentenced in April

Bolivian President Hugo Banzer shakes hands with Victor Manuel Rocha (R), the U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia, during a ceremony at the Goverment Palace in La Paz, Bolivia, on Aug. 3, 2000. (Reuters)

A former diplomat who once served as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia awaits sentencing in a sensational espionage trial that has made headlines since his arrest in December. Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, is accused of spying for Cuba for over 40 years. He pleaded guilty last month to two charges of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government; he will be sentenced at a hearing on April 12.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland described the case as one of the most significant and longest-running infiltrations of the U.S. government by a foreign agent in the nation’s history.

Mr. Rocha, known as Manuel, was born in Colombia in 1950 and migrated to the United States with his widowed mother and two siblings when he was 10. Growing up in a working-class family in New York, his life changed dramatically when he won a scholarship to the Taft School, an elite prep school in Connecticut.

From there, he attended Yale for a degree in Latin American studies and did graduate studies at Harvard and Georgetown. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1978.

Mr. Rocha joined the U.S. Department of State in 1981. Over his career, he held various positions in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, and Italy. He also served as the Director of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council, influencing U.S. diplomacy with the Cuban government. From 1997 until late 1999, he was the senior diplomat in Argentina;  he then served as the U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia until 2002.

After a 25-year diplomatic career, Mr. Rocha left the State Department to enter the business world. He joined several boards and businesses and advised the U.S. military’s Southern Command.

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Mr. Rocha was arrested on Dec. 1 at his residence in Miami.

According to the indictment, starting “no later than approximately 1981” and continuing until his apprehension, Mr. Rocha, as an agent of Cuba’s Intelligence Directorate, secretly supported Cuba and its clandestine intelligence collection missions against the United States.

“The implications of that espionage extend beyond Cuba,” the Wall Street Journal said last weekend, noting that Cuban intelligence was often an “afterthought” for Washington, giving Cuba’s spies an advantage.

Mr. Rocha’s position in the State Department from 1981 to 2002 gave him access to non-public information, including classified data, allowing him to influence U.S. foreign policy. He provided false and misleading information to the U.S. to maintain his covert status. He traveled abroad to meet with Cuban intelligence officers and made false and misleading statements to obtain travel documents.

The former ambassador’s indictment shocked his friends and colleagues in U.S. diplomacy and intelligence.

Brian Latell, a former senior CIA intelligence officer who had known Mr. Rocha since the early 1980s, told the Washington Post: “I never suspected, never had the slightest suspicion that he might be living a double life as the charging document describes. I think I knew him as well as anyone else, and I never thought it was possible. I think Manuel was someone with many more talents, and many more facets, than frankly I had ever imagined, even as close as we were for so many years. He was obviously doing very useful work for the Cubans.”

A Message From ‘Your Friends in Havana’

It remains unclear exactly how Mr. Rocha aroused suspicion from the U.S. government. American officials revealed it is almost certain he was identified through a defector from Cuba or intercepted coded communications.

An AP investigation revealed that as early as 1987, the CIA was aware of a “super mole” deeply hidden within the U.S. government, suspected by some officials to be Mr. Rocha. In 2006, a former CIA operative received a tip from a defected Cuban Army lieutenant colonel, claiming that Mr. Rocha was spying for Cuba. However, the clues were never pursued.

Almost four decades later, to catch the “big fish,” the FBI conducted a year-long undercover operation. An agent, pretending to be a Cuban intelligence officer, secretly recorded Rocha’s statements about his spy life.

According to court documents, in November 2022, an undercover FBI agent contacted Rocha through WhatsApp, relaying a message from “your friends in Havana.” The agent, using the alias “Miguel,” indicated over the phone that he was instructed to contact Rocha for a private meeting, to which Rocha agreed.

Mr. Rocha met with the undercover FBI agent three times, taking cautious measures like longer routes to meeting points and choosing to talk in a “food court” for lower-level employees to ensure he wasn’t seen. Unaware that counter-intelligence officers were monitoring and recording him, Rocha discussed the details of his work as a secret agent for the Cuban government.

During one meeting, according to a deposition in the case, Mr. Rocha reportedly told the undercover agent that the Cuban Intelligence Directorate “asked me ... to lead a normal life.” He built a reputation as a “right-wing person” in public while secretly dedicating himself to the communist cause of Cuba. He reportedly boasted about the extent of the damage he could inflict on the United States: “What we have done ... it’s enormous ... More than a grand slam.”

Mr. Rocha reflected on the risks to their operations, the deposition said: “I always told myself, ‘The only thing that can put everything we have done in danger is … someone’s betrayal, someone who may have met me, someone who may have known something at some point.”

In a meeting with the undercover agent, Mr. Rocha described how he became an employee of the State Department: “I went little by little. … It was a very meticulous process … very disciplined. I knew exactly how to do it and obviously the [Cuban Intelligence Directorate] accompanied me … they knew that I knew how to do it. … It’s a long process and it wasn’t easy.”

Mr. Rocha referred to Cuba and himself as “us” and to the United States as “the enemy.” When the undercover agent questioned his allegiance by asking, “Are you still with us?” Mr. Rocha, feeling his loyalty was doubted, became angry and said, “It’s like questioning my manhood.”

How Cuba Recruits Spies

Mr. Rocha, with his distinguished reputation, status, and income far beyond that of the average person in the United States, had motives for his long-term espionage activities that puzzled many.

The U.S. government believes that Mr. Rocha was recruited by Cuba during his study period in Chile in 1973. To American intelligence officials, a Hispanic from Colombia seemed like a perfect target for the Castro regime.

Cuban intelligence agencies, when recruiting Americans, look for potential sympathizers. They often target young people, particularly those in academia, promoting sympathy for a Cuba supposedly suffering under U.S. economic sanctions and other policies.

Ana Belen Montes, a former senior analyst at the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, serves as a prime example. Recruited by the Cuban intelligence department during her student years, she rose to become one of the top U.S. intelligence experts on Cuba. Ms. Montes conducted espionage activities for 17 years without detection. Arrested in 2001, she admitted to espionage charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. She was released last January after serving most of her 25-year sentence.

The Influence of Cuban Intelligence Extends Beyond Cuba

In January 1959, Fidel Castro established the first communist regime in the Americas. Following the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961, the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba and subsequently maintained a long-term embargo against the country. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 is considered the closest humanity has ever come to nuclear war.

After decades of hostility, it wasn’t until 2015, under the Obama administration, that Cuba was removed from the list of “state sponsors of terrorism.” Diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba were restored that same year. However, relations fell into a stalemate again during the Trump presidency.

The Castro family ruled Cuba for sixty years until 2021, when Fidel Castro’s brother Raul Castro was succeeded by Miguel Díaz-Canel. However, it is still governed by the Communist Party.

Agents working for Cuba are seen as indirectly working for other governments hostile to the United States. José Cohen Valdés, a former Cuban cryptography officer who escaped by raft in 1994, told the Wall Street Journal that when intelligence comes in, Havana classifies it to determine what is useful for itself and what might be helpful for other countries.

For instance, Ms. Montes once revealed to Havana a project known as “Misty,” an American stealth spy satellite program, information more useful to Russia and China than to Cuba itself.

Thus Mr. Rocha’s espionage activities within the United States have repercussions extending well beyond Cuba. U.S. federal authorities are in the midst of a comprehensive damage assessment, a process expected to span several years. The assessment may conclude more swiftly should Mr. Rocha choose to cooperate.

The espionage efforts of Cuba are not isolated incidents but are part of a larger web of intelligence activities that involve some of the United States’ most significant geopolitical rivals, including the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP benefits from intelligence collected by Cuban sources and has further extended its espionage capabilities by establishing bases in Cuba specifically aimed at the United States.

In June 2023, the White House confirmed the existence of a Chinese spy base in Cuba, situated a mere 100 miles off the coast of Florida. This strategic location enables Chinese intelligence to intercept electronic communications across the southeastern United States, a region critical for its concentration of military installations and as a hub for monitoring U.S. maritime traffic. As part of this arrangement, China has pledged to inject billions of dollars into Cuba’s economy, which is currently facing significant financial challenges.