Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, was arrested in early December, accused of being a mole for the communist government in Havana. The ex-diplomat, who had pleaded guilty, was sentenced “to the maximum sentence authorized by law,” the judge said.
The former ambassador, living in Miami, "always referred to the United States as the enemy," the Justice Department pointed out. He was confused by a member of the American federal police (FBI) who posed, in 2022 and 2023, as an agent of the Cuban intelligence services, according to a court document. The case is “one of the longest infiltrations, and affecting the most significant levels, of a foreign agent within the American state,’ the Minister of Justice estimated at the time of his indictment, Merrick Garland. The former diplomat was born in Colombia and naturalized American, but served in the State Department for about 30 years before retiring in 2002 after 30 years of service.