A former US ambassador who pleaded guilty to spying for Cuba for over four decades was sentenced in federal court on Friday to 15 years in prison.
Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, was arrested in December for what US officials called 鈥榦ne of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent.鈥�
Rocha pleaded not guilty in February to charges of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government but later accepted a plea deal with federal prosecutors.
Judge Beth Bloom, after a three-and-a-half hearing in Miami on Friday, told Rocha she would give him 鈥榯he maximum penalty permitted by law.鈥�
In addition to the 15-year sentence, Rocha was given a $500,000 fine.
Rocha, a naturalized US citizen originally from Colombia, allegedly began aiding Havana as a covert agent of Cuba鈥檚 General Directorate of Intelligence (DGI) in 1981, and his espionage activities continued until his arrest, according to US authorities.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, announcing Rocha鈥檚 arrest in December, said he had 鈥榬epeatedly referred to the United States as 鈥榯he enemy鈥欌�� and 鈥榬epeatedly bragged about the significance of his efforts.鈥�
Rocha joined the State Department in 1981 and rose through the ranks as a career diplomat, serving in posts in Havana, Buenos Aires, Mexico City and Washington.
Rocha served on the National Security Council from 1994 to 1995 in the administration of president Bill Clinton, and was the ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002 under Clinton and George W. Bush. He also served as an advisor to the US military command responsible for Cuba.
The criminal complaint against Rocha details how, over multiple meetings with an undercover FBI agent beginning in November 2022, he 鈥榖ehaved as a Cuban agent,鈥� praising the communist-ruled island鈥檚 late leader Fidel Castro and 鈥榰sing the term 鈥榳e鈥� to describe himself and Cuba.鈥�
Rocha鈥檚 arrest and conviction come around 15 years after the indictment of Walter Kendall Myers and Gwendolyn Myers, an American couple who spied for Cuba for nearly 30 years.
Kendall Myers was sentenced to life imprisonment, while his wife was sentenced to over five years.
