Víctor Manuel Rocha,
a former U.S. diplomat
who served as ambassador to Argentina, among other destinations,
said Thursday that he will plead guilty in Miami to spying for the Cuban government and defrauding the U.S. government.
Rocha, 73, told a federal judge in Miami that he would admit to federal charges of conspiracy
to act as an agent of a foreign government
, crimes that could put him behind bars for several years.
Her defense attorney indicated that prosecutors have agreed to a sentence, but the length of that term was not revealed in court Thursday.
He is scheduled to return to court on April 12.
“I'm in agreement,”
Rocha told Judge Beth Bloom.
Just a few weeks ago, Rocha had pleaded not guilty.
But he now said that he will admit to the charges, in one of the largest cases of deception of American diplomacy and secret services.
The former diplomat spent decades in the US State Department and
served in Buenos Aires between 1997 and 2000
as the top US representative in the country, as the embassy did not have an official envoy, although his title was Chargé d'Affaires. .
He then went as ambassador to Bolivia and years later he left diplomacy to dedicate himself to private business.
Víctor Manuel Rocha, in 2011. Photo AFP
Rocha was a protagonist in the world's media when
he was arrested in Miami on December 1,
after an exhaustive FBI investigation, which included the work of an undercover agent who posed as a Cuban spy and recorded conversations he had with him. .
Days later, Rocha was indicted by a Miami grand jury of defrauding his country and acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government, news that shocked American diplomacy.
"This action exposes one of the most far-reaching and longest-running infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent," Attorney General Merrick Garland said when the former diplomat was arrested.
"We allege that, for more than 40 years, Víctor Manuel Rocha served as an agent of the Cuban government and sought and obtained positions within the United States government that would provide him with access to non-public information and the ability to affect the foreign policy of the United States. United States,” he added.
The criminal complaint did not provide details about what
information he might have disclosed to Cuba
or how it might have influenced U.S. policy.
According to the indictment, Rocha had high-level security clearances, giving him access to top-secret information.
Before landing in Argentina and Bolivia, Rocha had been number two at the US embassy in Cuba
The Foreign Agents Registration Act requires those working under the control of foreign governments to notify the U.S. Attorney General's office.
Rocha also faces charges of
making false statements
to obtain and use a U.S. passport.
Rocha remains detained in a federal prison but is not still.
As it emerged days ago, the former diplomat
transferred the title of ownership of four luxury apartments in a condominium in the center of Miami,
valued at 4 million dollars, which now remained entirely in the hands of his wife, Karla Wittkop Rocha.
The information, reported by America TV, indicates that the transfer happened on February 8, although the documents appeared to have been signed in January.