A federal court in Miami sentenced this Friday15 years in prisonto the former United States ambassadorManuel Rocha, who pleaded guilty to spying for Cuba.
Judge Beth Bloom sentenced Rocha to a total of 15 years in prison: 5 years on the conspiracy charge and 10 years on the charge of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government, reportedCNN.
This sentence must be served consecutively.
Bloom also imposed a fine of $250,000 on each count, which Rocha agreed to pay.
The source points out that the defendant also faces three years of supervised release for each charge, the maximum penalty allowed by law.
"You turned your back on this country time and time again," the judge told the former diplomat.
The accused, 73 years old,accepted his responsibility in the position of acting as an illegal agent from another country without notifying the United States Government.
He faced 15 criminal charges, includingacting as an illegal agent of a foreign government (Cuba), conspiracy to commit the same crime, wire fraud, false statements in a passport application, use of a passport obtained by false statement, and false statements and representations.
"I take full responsibility," he said at the hearing.
"I am deeply sorry," he added in a message apologizing to his family for his actions.
In December 2023, prosecutors accused Rocha of acting for decades as an undercover agent "of Cuba's intelligence services."
As part of Rocha's plea deal, previous charges of lying to investigators and wire fraud were dropped.
Bloom had rejected the plea deal, arguing that it lacked options for restitution for potential victims and did not include the possibility of "denaturalization" of a convicted felon.
At the end of the trial, the judge considered that prosecutors did not do enough to investigate the possible victims of Rocha's actions, who spent several years providing information to Havana, and repeatedly stated that the US Government is the only one victim in this case.
"For 53 years the information was provided. I don't know if there are victims. I don't know if you know," he said.
Rocha was arrested in Miami on December 1, 2023,after confessing his activities to an FBI agent who posed as a Cuban spy.
According to the indictment, between 2022 and 2023, the former diplomat had three recorded meetings with an FBI special agent who posed as a representative of Cuba's General Directorate of Intelligence, during which he constantly referred to the United States as "the enemy." " andHe admitted that his objective during his time in the State Department was to "strengthen the Cuban Revolution".
Between 1981 and 2002 he was an employee of the US Department of State and held various positions in the embassies in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Argentina and Bolivia.
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) received the first information in 2006 that Rocha was spying for Havana, but was skeptical and finally ignored the accusations.
An AP cable recently noted that in 2006 a lieutenant colonel who deserted the Cuban Army showed up at the Miami home of former CIA agent Félix Rodríguez and told him that Rocha was spying for Fidel Castro.
However, Rodríguez, who participated in the Bay of Pigs invasion (1961) and the execution of Ernesto "Che" Guevara (1967), believed at the time that the information about Rocha was an attempt to discredit a fellow crusader. anti-communist who was also already recognized and respected in Miami.
However, he relayed the defector's message to the CIA, which was also skeptical. "No one believed him. We all thought it was defamation," Rodríguez lamented in statements to the AP.
On February 8, Rocha transferred four luxury properties to his wife Karla Wittkop Rocha worth more than $4 million dollars.
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