U.S. federal prosecutors charged former diplomat Victor Manuel Rocha with multiple federal crimes on Monday after an FBI investigation found evidence that Rocha acted as an undercover spy for Cuba’s communist Castro regime for over 40 years.
Rocha, 73, is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Colombia and living in Miami, Florida. Rocha was a former U.S. Department of State employee between 1981 and 2002. Through his tenure, Rocha occupied several positions and held U.S. diplomatic positions in the Dominican Republic, Argentina, and Cuba, eventually serving as Ambassador to Bolivia between 2000 and 2002.
Rocha also served as an adviser to the Commander of the U.S. Southern Command, a joint command of the United States military whose area of responsibility includes Cuba, from 2006 to 2012.
Rocha was arrested in Miami on Friday following a lengthy FBI counterintelligence…