A former U.S. ambassador who pleaded guilty to spying for Cuba for more than 40 years has been sentenced in federal court to 15 years in prison. The American media reported it.
Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, was arrested in December for what U.S. officials called “one of the most far-reaching and longest-running infiltrations by a foreign agent” of the U.S. government.
Rocha pleaded not guilty in February to conspiracy charges but later accepted a plea deal. After a three-and-a-half-hour hearing in Miami on Friday, Judge Beth Bloom gave the former ambassador “the maximum sentence permitted by law.” In addition to the 15-year sentence, he was fined $500,000. Rocha, originally from Colombia and a naturalized American, began helping Havana as an undercover agent for Cuba’s Directorate General of Intelligence (DGI) in 1981, when he joined the State Department. He rose through the ranks as a career diplomat, holding posts in Havana, Buenos Aires, Mexico City and Washington. Rocha served on the National Security Council from 1994 to 1995 under President Bill Clinton’s administration, and was ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002 under Clinton and George W. Bush. He also served as an advisor to the U.S. military command responsible for Cuba.
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