A former United States ambassador accused of working for many years as a undercover agent for Cuba in one of many largest nationwide safety breaches in years pleaded responsible on Friday and was sentenced to fifteen years in jail.
Manuel Rocha, 73, pleaded responsible to 2 prices — conspiring to defraud america as a overseas agent and failing to register as a overseas agent — as a part of an settlement with the federal authorities. He additionally faces three years of supervised launch, and a $500,000 superb.
Mr. Rocha, carrying a beige jail uniform and black glasses, conceded earlier than he was sentenced to the “betrayal of my oath of loyalty to america throughout my twenty years within the State Division.”
“Throughout my childhood in school, I used to be closely influenced by the unconventional politics of the day,” stated Mr. Rocha, who prosecutors stated was recruited by Cuban intelligence brokers in 1973. “Right now, I not see the world by the unconventional eyes of my youth.”
In imposing the sentence, Choose Beth Bloom of Federal District Court docket in Miami stated that as not too long ago as 2022 and 2023 Mr. Rocha was recorded by an undercover F.B.I. agent displaying “an absence of allegiance of america.”
“You turned your again on the nation,” she stated. “A rustic that gave you every little thing.”
The proceedings didn’t shed a lot gentle on Mr. Rocha’s dealings with the Cuban authorities or whether or not he shared secrets and techniques throughout his diplomatic profession, which included serving as ambassador to Bolivia and briefly working in a White Home position underneath President Invoice Clinton.
In an uncommon flip of occasions, Choose Bloom expressed deep frustration with prosecutors for not in search of extra penalties for Mr. Rocha, reminiscent of forfeiture of his belongings. She demanded adjustments to the plea deal from the bench and pressed prosecutors to disclose extra about when the federal government realized that Mr. Rocha had change into “an enemy of america authorities.”
Prosecutors stated particulars past these made public within the indictment had been categorised.
“This case is a reminder that we face espionage and insider threats from a variety of adversaries,” David Newman, the principal deputy assistant lawyer common for nationwide safety on the Division of Justice, stated at a information convention in Miami — dwelling to the nation’s largest inhabitants of Cuban exiles — after Mr. Rocha’s sentencing.
Mr. Rocha was charged in December with appearing as an agent of a overseas authorities; he was additionally charged with defrauding america, wire fraud and making false statements to acquire and use an American passport.
Prosecutors dropped the opposite prices as a part of his plea settlement; the wire fraud cost had carried a 20-year most sentence. Mr. Rocha final appeared in court docket in February, when he indicated that he would change his earlier plea of not responsible.
Mr. Rocha’s plea deal compelled him to share with the federal government “a full, detailed injury evaluation of that hurt that was dedicated,” Jonathan Douglas Stratton, one of many prosecutors, stated in court docket.
“Fifteen years for a person who’s 73 and a half years previous is tantamount to a life sentence,” Mr. Stratton stated, including that “it was extremely useful to have the defendant not solely plead responsible and admit his prison conduct however to proceed cooperating with america.”
Earlier than accepting the settlement, Choose Bloom required prosecutors to incorporate language making clear that Mr. Rocha remained accountable for restitution ought to any victims of his actions emerge.
“I can’t settle for that the sufferer is barely america,” Choose Bloom stated.
The choose additionally pushed to incorporate language saying that the settlement didn’t preclude the federal government from pursuing civil denaturalization in opposition to Mr. Rocha, who was born in Colombia and have become a naturalized American citizen in 1978.
As Mr. Rocha spoke in court docket, his spouse, kids and different kin watched from the second row.
“I’m making and can proceed to make, as required, vital amends all through my unconditional collaboration to these I’ve betrayed,” Mr. Rocha stated.
Two former American officers convicted of spying for Cuba in previous high-profile instances additionally agreed to offer data to federal authorities as a part of their plea agreements.
The cooperation of Ana Belén Montes, a former analyst on the Protection Intelligence Company, following her arrest in 2001, led to the charging of Marta Rita Velazquez, who labored on the U.S. Company for Worldwide Improvement. Ms. Velazquez fled to Sweden after Ms. Montes’s arrest; an indictment in opposition to Ms. Velazquez was unsealed in 2013, however she stays a fugitive.
Ms. Montes was launched final yr.
In one other main case, Walter Kendall Myers, a former State Division official, pleaded responsible in 2009 to spying for Cuba for many years. He’s serving a life sentence. His spouse, Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, was additionally charged and sentenced to almost seven years in jail.
The indictment in opposition to Mr. Rocha stated that he had aided the Cuban authorities, whose intelligence company has had notable success in infiltrating the U.S. nationwide safety institution over the many years, since not less than 1981. He was posted on the U.S. mission in Havana in the course of the Nineties.
The indictment didn’t element Mr. Rocha’s interactions with the Cuban authorities or accuse him of sharing particular secrets and techniques. It additionally didn’t cost him with espionage, which Mr. Newman attributed partially to the unusually lengthy time frame that has handed since Mr. Rocha final labored in authorities and had entry to categorised data.
Raised in New York, Mr. Rocha labored within the State Division underneath Mr. Clinton and President George W. Bush on issues associated to Latin America. He served as ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002 and as an adviser to the U.S. navy command that features Cuba from 2006 to 2012.
After leaving authorities, he moved to Miami. Former colleagues stated that they had watched in astonishment as Mr. Rocha turned a supporter of former President Donald J. Trump — an embrace of conservative politics that the indictment steered could have been a part of an effort to cowl his tracks.
