Former US ambassador pleads guilty to spying on behalf of Cuba, sentenced to 15 years in prison

State Department via AP

A longtime US diplomat was sentenced on Friday to 15 years in federal prison after he admitted that he was a secret agent for the Cuban government.

Manuel Rocha, 73, will also be made to pay a $500,000 fine and must cooperate with US authorities after his guilty plea. Rocha pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government as part of a plea agreement.

Prosecutors dismissed several other charges in exchange for Rocha's admission, including counts of wire fraud and making false statements.

“Today’s plea and sentencing brings to an end more than four decades of betrayal and deceit by the defendant,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division in a statement. “Rocha admitted to acting as an agent of the Cuban government at the same time he held numerous positions of trust in the U.S. government, a staggering betrayal of the American people and an acknowledgement that every oath he took to the United States was a lie."

US Attorney Markenzy Lapointe said that Rocha underestimated the capabilities of the US's intelligence agencies and hopes that the case serves as a reminder to others who seek to "act unlawfully in the United States for a foreign government: we will seek you out anywhere, at any time, and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”

Liberals move from ignoring to bypassing spy agencies on Chinese infiltration @ezralevant https://t.co/gzJWw6f9gn | #cdnpoli #tcot pic.twitter.com/splonXhjXp

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) June 9, 2017

Rocha admitted that starting in 1973 and until the time of his arrest, he worked secretly for the Cuban government and its clandestine intelligence-gathering mission against the US.

He would land a job at the US Department of State from 1981 until 2002. This allowed him to have access to non-public and classified documents.

Between 2022 and 2023, Rocha would interact with an undercover FBI agent who was posing as a covert Cuban General Directorate of Intelligence rep. Rocha would admit to the undercover agent that he had decades of experience working for Cuba.

The undercover told Rocha that he was a "covert representative" whose mission it was to make contact with Rocha and "establish a new communication plan."

During their meetings, Rocha would talk at length about his work for Cuba and would even condemn the US as "the enemy" and used the term "we" to describe himself to Cuba.

"As this case demonstrates, the counterintelligence threat facing our nation is real, pervasive, and has the potential to cause great harm to our national security. I want to commend the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida for their close partnership on this highly sensitive matter," said Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri of the FBI Miami Field Office.