Victor Manuel Rocha

On December 4, 2023, federal officials arrested Victor Manuel Rocha — a former U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia and career State Department official — on charges of conspiring to act as an agent of the Cuban government. In April 2024, Rocha pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an illegal agent of a foreign government and related charges. Rocha admitted he had been gathering intelligence for Cuba's Directorate of Intelligence since 1981 — a 40-year stretch spanning multiple federal posts including Ambassador to Bolivia, Deputy Chief of Mission in Argentina, and a position on the National Security Council under Bill Clinton. In a video recorded by an undercover FBI agent, Rocha praised Fidel Castro, referred to the United States as 'the enemy,' and boasted about his 40+ years of espionage.

• Wikipedia — Manuel Rocha
• Washington Post — Ex-U.S. ambassador Manuel Rocha admits to serving as secret agent for Cuba (2024-02-29)
• CBS News — Victor Manuel Rocha, ex-U.S. ambassador who spied for Cuba for decades, sentenced to 15 years
• CNN — Former US diplomat sentenced to 15 years after pleading guilty to spying for Cuba (2024-04-12)

On April 12, 2024, U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom sentenced Rocha to 15 years in federal prison — one of the longest espionage sentences in U.S. history. The case is widely regarded as the longest-running infiltration of the U.S. State Department by a hostile foreign intelligence service ever publicly confirmed.

• CNN — Former US diplomat sentenced to 15 years after pleading guilty to spying for Cuba (2024-04-12)
• CBS News — Victor Manuel Rocha, ex-U.S. ambassador who spied for Cuba for decades, sentenced to 15 years
• Washington Post — Manuel Rocha sentenced to 15 years after admitting to spying on U.S. for Cuba (2024-04-13)