By Joshua Goodman—
The Associated Press
A former career U.S. civil service diplomat said in court Thursday that he will plead guilty to charges that he served as a secret agent for communist Cuba for decades, marking a lightning resolution to a case that prosecutors described as one of the most brazen betrayals in the history of the American foreign service.
Manuel Rocha, 73, told a federal judge that he will admit two federal charges of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government, charges that carry
a maximum penalty of between 5 and 10 years in prison each.
In exchange, the Prosecutor's Office agreed to drop another 13 charges for crimes such as electronic fraud and false statements.
The United States ambassador to Bolivia, Manuel Rocha, speaks to the press on July 11, 2001. Gonzalo Espinoza / AFP via Getty Images file
Prosecutors and Rocha's attorney indicated they had agreed on a sentence, but details were not revealed in court Thursday.
He is scheduled to appear in court again on April 12, when sentencing will likely be handed down.
“I agree
,” Rocha replied, in handcuffs and ankle cuffs, when Judge Beth Bloom asked him if he wanted to change his plea to guilty.
Rocha was arrested by the FBI at his home in Miami in December, accused of participating in “clandestine activities” in favor of Cuba since at least 1981 – the year he joined the United States Foreign Service –, among other things, meeting with agents. of Cuban intelligence and providing false information to US Government officials about his contacts.
[The arrested former US diplomat is accused of clandestine activities in favor of Cuba since 1981]
Federal authorities have said little about what exactly Rocha did to help Cuba while he worked at the State Department for two decades in posts in Argentina, Bolivia and Mexico, before building a lucrative postgovernment career that included a stint as special adviser to the commander of the United States Southern Command.
Instead, the case relies heavily on what prosecutors claim were Rocha's own confessions, made last year to an undercover FBI agent posing as
a Cuban intelligence agent named 'Miguel.'
In those recordings, Rocha praised the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro by calling him “Commander,” branding the United States an “enemy” and boasting of his service for more than 40 years as a Cuban spy at the heart of American foreign policy circles. , claims the complaint.
“What we have done is enormous.
“It's more than a Grand Slam,” he is quoted as saying in one of several secretly recorded conversations.
Rocha's decision to plead guilty Thursday came just hours after the widow of a prominent Cuban dissident killed in a mysterious car accident filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the former diplomat.
The legal complaint accuses Rocha of sharing information that encouraged Cuban communist leaders to assassinate a prominent opponent.