Former US ambassador to Bolivia, Manuel Rocha, aged 73, has been accused of covertly acting as a foreign agent for Cuba, according to recently unsealed court documents. The charges allege that Rocha clandestinely aided Cuba’s intelligence-gathering mission against the United States during his tenure as the US ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002 and as the deputy principal officer of the US Interests Section in Cuba during the 1990s. Prosecutors claim that Rocha, in various roles within the US embassies, secretly supported the Republic of Cuba, met with an undercover FBI employee posing as a Cuban intelligence officer, and referred to the US as “the enemy” while praising Fidel Castro.
Further allegations detail Rocha’s involvement in what he called the “knock down of the small planes,” which is believed to be a reference to an incident when Cuba shot down two unarmed planes operated by members of a US-based group during his time working for the State Department in Havana. As the former US ambassador, Rocha had unique access to non-public government information, according to the prosecutors.
Attorney General Merrick Garland called the case “one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent.” Rocha is facing three federal charges, including acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government, and the Department of Justice plans to bring additional charges with a grand jury.
Rocha was represented by Miami attorney Jacqueline Arango with the Akerman law firm during his initial court appearance in Miami, and he is scheduled for a pretrial detention hearing. An undercover FBI employee, operating as a Cuban intelligence agent, initiated contact with Rocha on WhatsApp in November 2022, implying that they “have a message for him from Havana.” This message led to a meeting in Miami, where Rocha took precautions to avoid surveillance.
During the meeting, Rocha allegedly admitted to creating a “legend of a right-wing person” and detailed his State Department employment process, claiming to have been “accompanied” by Cuban intelligence. Rocha’s purported decades of work on behalf of the Cuban government were also highlighted, including his role at the consulting firm LLYC USA, which has severed ties with Rocha and promised full collaboration with the authorities. This story has been updated with additional details provided by CNN’s Denise Royal and Katelyn Polantz.
