Víctor Manuel Rocha, the U.S. ambassador to several Latin American countries, was arrested and will be tried in a Miami court accused of spying for Cuba’s government, the U.S. attorney’s office said Monday.

Rocha, 73 years old and of Colombian descent, is accused of “committing multiple federal crimes by secretly acting for decades as an agent of the government of the Republic of Cuba,” the U.S. government said in a statement.

“This action exposes one of the most far-reaching and longest-running infiltrations of the U.S. government by a foreign agent,” said U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.

“For over forty years Víctor Manuel Rocha served as an agent of the Cuban government and sought and obtained positions within the United States government that would give him access to non-public information and the ability to influence United States foreign policy.the prosecutor said. According to the statement, the former U.S. State Department employee served on the National Security Council from 1994 to 1995 and served as U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002.

According to the complaint, which began around 1981 and continues to this day, Rocha, who held U.S. citizenship, “secretly supported the Republic of Cuba and its clandestine intelligence gathering mission against the United States by acting as an undercover agent to step. agent of the General Directorate of Intelligence of Cuba.

At a news conference, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller emphasized that Rocha has not worked for the U.S. Diplomatic Service for more than 20 years.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has announced that Víctor Manuel Rocha, former ambassador to the United States, has been charged with illegally acting as a foreign agent of the government of Cuba. Photo: AFP

Miller praised the work of the Attorney General’s Office and the FBI in charging Rocha and assured that the State Department will work with the intelligence community to analyze “the national security implications” of the case.

Rocha served as deputy chief officer of the United States Interests Section in Havana between 1991 and 1994, as well as director of Inter-American Affairs at the National Security Council in Washington.

The now accused studied in the United States, including at the Taft School and the universities of Yale, Harvard and Georgetown, and worked as an American official and diplomat in delegations from various countries, including Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, Honduras and the Dominican Republic . ., as well as in Italy.

“Rocha is alleged to have worked as an undercover agent for Cuba for decades and abused his position of trust in the U.S. government to advance the interests of a foreign power,” Assistant Division Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said of his contribution. Homeland Security of the Ministry of Justice. (JO)