Victor Manuel Rocha held the position of the United States ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002, serving during the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
The diplomat, originally from Colombia, was raised in the United States and attended renowned universities such as Harvard, Georgetown, and Yale. Over the course of several decades, he dedicated his career to the U.S. government, with allegations suggesting concurrent involvement with the Cuban government.
On December 4th, the Office of Public Affairs within the Department of Justice revealed allegations against the ex-United States ambassador.
The criminal complaint suggests that Rocha covertly began providing support to the Cuban government in the vicinity of 1981. According to federal prosecutors, he was employed as a foreign agent for Cuba’s General Directorate of Intelligence, tasked with gathering intelligence for the nation.
To advance his mission, federal authorities claim that Rocha managed to secure a position at the State Department, where he worked for the U.S. government from 1981 to 2002. Advancing in the hierarchy of the State Department, he progressed from being the initial secretary at the US Embassy in Mexico City to holding positions such as deputy chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and deputy chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, among various other roles.
Throughout his tenure in the federal government, he had access to non-public information, including classified details. The Department of Justice noted that he also possessed “the ability to affect US foreign policy.”
Upon departing from the government in 2002, Rocha allegedly persisted in his association with Cuba’s intelligence agency. Between 2006 and 2012, he served as an advisor to the commander of the US Southern Command, the military division responsible for overseeing the region, which encompasses Cuba.
In the years 2022 and 2023, Rocha engaged in meetings with an undercover FBI agent, assuming the role of a covert representative from the Cuban General Directorate of Intelligence. Throughout these sessions, he indicated that he had been in the service of the Cuban government for four decades. The FBI agent asserted that Rocha conducted himself as an agent for Cuba during these encounters.
Presently, he faces charges of conspiring to act as a foreign agent without notifying the attorney general, employing a passport acquired through false statements, and various other charges.
