2023-12-10 23:43:09
Victor Manuel Rocha, former US ambassador, was arrested in Miami following being accused of having spied for more than four decades for the Cuban regime.
The North American intelligence community went into shock following the arrest in Miami of former ambassador Manuel Rocha, 73, accused of having been a spy for the Cuban regime for more than four decades. Once the scandal broke out, countless questions arose around the espionage activities of the former diplomat, such as what damages were caused by his actions and the reasons behind his decision to collaborate with the Castro dictatorship.
You may be interested in: Manuel Rocha, the ambassador of shadows
Since his beginnings in North American political and diplomatic activity, Rocha became an official respected and credible by his colleagues. However, an article published this Sunday by The Guardian He claims that, while he held various diplomatic positions in various Latin American countries, he developed deep feelings of resentment and a “disguised” sympathy for those most in need.
The New York Times published an article this Sunday referring to the humble origins of the former ambassador, who emigrated from Colombia with his mother, a widow who worked in a slave workshop and depended on food stamps and social assistance. . In the 1960s they moved to the United States, where they lived in the New York neighborhood of Harlem.
You may be interested in: The origins of the former United States ambassador accused of being a Cuban agent
Fulton Armstrong is a senior researcher in the Latin American program at the American University in Washington and a former CIA analyst. In dialogue with the British newspaper, he defined Rocha’s motivation to clandestinely serve the Cuban regime in three words: “Ego, resentment and resentment.” He suggested, furthermore, that Rocha possibly never felt accepted among the elite of the North American establishment.
“He is a very bright guy. He enters the State Department, but never felt treated fairly. Then you look at US policy toward Latin America and there are many parallel elements to those same things,” he commented.
You may be interested in: Manuel Rocha’s revelations to an undercover FBI agent regarding his activities as a Cuban spy
Armstrong even considered that it was very possible that Rocha had not been recruited by Cuban intelligence, but rather had presented himself as a “volunteer.”
This image provided by the Department of Justice shows Manuel Rocha during a meeting with an undercover FBI employee, to whom he revealed secrets of his espionage activities for the Cuban regime (Department of Justice via AP)
The New York Times clarifies that American investigators have not yet concluded whether Rocha’s betrayal was motivated by money, ideology or something else. The formal accusation does not specify the nature of the former diplomat’s agreements with the Cubans.
Armstrong met Rocha and Ana Montes, a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst who spent 20 years in prison following being discovered as a Cuban spy. Regarding the activities that both carried out, he pointed out the sophistication of Cuban intelligence. Rocha and Montes knew each other, and worked as officials of the North American Government without knowing that the other was covertly spying for the regime in Havana.
“Imagine that you are the controller of these two very well-placed sources of information and that they do not know that each of them is clandestinely working for the same boss. The covert communications with Manuel were brilliant,” said the former CIA analyst.
Between 1981 and 2002, Rocha was an employee of the State Department and held various positions in the United States embassies in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico and Argentina. However, the most intriguing period of his career occurred between 1995 and 1997, when he was stationed at the United States Interests Section in Havana, Cuba; years marked by extreme tensions between both countries. The former diplomat’s highest moment was on Cuban soil, when in February 1996 Castro’s army shot down two planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue, an American group opposed to the Castro regime, resulting in the death of four people.
Rocha also served on the United States National Security Council. That is to say, he is an official who was in contact with and aware of very sensitive information for Washington for more than 40 years. For this reason, since his arrest, North American intelligence launched an urgent evaluation of the damage he might have caused to discover what secrets he would have shared with the Cuban regime.
Jim Popkin, author of a book regarding Ana Montes, told The Guardian that “it is unprecedented for an ambassador to be accused of espionage.” “He served on the White House National Security Council, where part of his portfolio concerned Cuba, and that is a big problem. But having served in the United States interests section in Havana when it is recognized that he was working for the other party is a nightmare scenario,” he acknowledged.
“He would have had access and known the situation and the names of the agents who worked in Havana on behalf of the United States. It is something very dangerous,” added Popkin, who did not hesitate to consider that this scenario represented a great “triumph” for the Cuban dictatorship.
Manuel Rocha held various positions that gave him access to sensitive information regarding US national security (EFE/Orlando Barría)
“What a triumph for them to place someone in the State Department, see him rise through the ranks and eventually become a United States ambassador (…) If you look at Rocha’s career, almost all of his positions were in a place that would have been useful for Cuba. “They must have been delighted to see how successful he was,” Popkin said.
“For more than 40 years, Víctor Manuel Rocha served as an agent of the Cuban Government and sought and obtained positions within the United States Government that would provide him access to non-public information and the ability to affect the foreign policy of the United States,” said the Attorney General of the United States, Merrick B. Garland, following the arrest of the former ambassador.
According to the complaint, since 1981 Rocha “secretly supported the Republic of Cuba and its clandestine intelligence gathering mission once morest the United States by serving as an undercover agent and agent of the General Directorate of Intelligence of Cuba.”
According to the indictment published in the North American judicial system, Rocha faces 15 criminal charges in a court in Miami (Florida), including being a spy for the Cuban dictatorship and electronic fraud. If convicted, he might receive a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison.
1702270423
#Espionage #resentment #betrayal #Manuel #Rochas #motivations #undercover #agent #Cuban #regime
