Former US diplomat accused of spying for Cuba to be sentenced today after expected guilty plea
CNN
The former US ambassador to Bolivia accused of acting as a secret foreign agent of Cuba is expected to appear in a Miami courtroom Friday to be sentenced after pleading guilty.
The former US ambassador to Bolivia accused of acting as a secret foreign agent of Cuba is expected to appear in a Miami courtroom Friday to be sentenced after pleading guilty. Manuel Rocha, 73, is charged with several crimes, including acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government, wire fraud and making false statements to investigators. Prosecutors have alleged the former American diplomat acted as a “covert agent of Cuba’s intelligence services” for decades. The court record did not indicate the charges included in the guilty plea. At a hearing in Miami in February, Rocha and prosecutors said he was changing his not guilty plea entered earlier that month, according to the court docket. Rocha served as the US ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002 and as the deputy principal officer of the US Interests Section in Cuba in the 1990s. He also worked for the US Embassy in the Dominican Republic in the 1980s as well as the US Consulate in Italy, and he served in different roles for US embassies in Mexico and Argentina. His role as the political officer at the US Embassy in the Dominican Republic gave him “special responsibility” for Cuba, prosecutors alleged.
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