2024年3月1日
2 分で読める
2 分で読める

Former US Diplomat Admits Spying for Cuba Intelligence For Decades

MIAMI (NEWSnet/AP) — Former U.S. ambassador Manuel Rocha said Thursday he will plead guilty to charges of serving as a secret agent for communist Cuba for decades.

Rocha, 73, told a federal judge he would admit to federal counts of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government, charges that could land him in prison for several years. His defense lawyer indicates prosecutors have agreed on a sentence, but details were not disclosed in court Thursday.

He is due to return to court April 12.

Prosecutors alleged that Rocha engaged in “clandestine activity” on Cuba’s behalf since at least 1981, the year he joined the U.S. foreign service, including by meeting with Cuba intelligence operatives and providing false information to U.S. government officials about his contacts.

Federal authorities have said little about what Rocha did to assist Cuba while working for U.S. Department of State and during a lucrative post-government career that included a stint as special adviser for U.S. Southern Command.

Rocha, whose two-decade career as a U.S. diplomat included top posts in Bolivia, Argentina and U.S. Interests Section in Havana, was arrested in December by FBI agents at his home in Miami.

The case relies largely on what prosecutors say were Rocha’s admissions, made over the past year to an undercover FBI agent posing as a Cuba intelligence operative named “Miguel.”

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