MIAMI — A former American diplomat who served as the US ambassador to Bolivia has been detained in a long-running FBI counterintelligence investigation, accused of secretly serving as a Cuban government agent, The Associated Press has learned.
Manuel Rocha, 73, was arrested in Miami on Friday on a criminal complaint and more details about the case are expected to be made public at a court appearance Monday, said two people who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak. to discuss the ongoing federal investigation.
One of them said the Justice Department case accused Rocha of working to promote the interests of the Cuban government.
Federal law requires people who do the political bidding of a foreign government or entity within the US to register with the Justice Department, which in recent years has stepped up criminal enforcement of illegal foreign lobbying.
The Justice Department declined to comment. It’s unclear if Rocha has an attorney and the law firm he previously worked for said it does not represent him.
His wife hung up when contacted by the AP.
Rocha’s 25-year diplomatic career was spent under both Democratic and Republican administrations, mostly in Latin America during the Cold War, a period of sometimes heavy-handed US political and military policy.
Manuel Rocha, 73, was arrested in Miami on Friday on a criminal complaint. AFP via Getty Images
His diplomatic posts included serving in the US Interests Section in Cuba during a time when the US did not have full diplomatic relations with the communist government of Fidel Castro.
Born in Colombia, Rocha grew up in a working-class home in New York City and went on to earn successive liberal arts degrees from Yale, Harvard and Georgetown before joining the foreign service in 1981.
He was the top US diplomat in Argentina between 1997 and 2000 when a decade-long currency stabilization program backed by Washington was unraveling under the burden of huge foreign debt and stagnant growth, triggering a political crisis that would see the South American country through five round president in two weeks.
In his next post as ambassador to Bolivia, he intervened directly in the 2002 presidential race, warning weeks before the vote that the US would cut aid to the impoverished South American country if it elected former coca grower Evo Morales.
“I want to remind Bolivian voters that if they vote for those who want Bolivia to return to exporting cocaine, it will jeopardize any future aid to Bolivia from the United States,” Rocha said in a speech widely interpreted as an attempt to maintain US dominance in the region.
The fight enraged the Bolivian people and gave Morales a last minute boost.
One of them said the Justice Department case accused Rocha of working to promote the interests of the Cuban government. Department of State
When he was finally elected three years later, the leftist leader expelled Rocha’s successor as head of the diplomatic mission for inciting “civil war.”
Rocha also served in Italy, Honduras, Mexico and the Dominican Republic, and worked as a Latin America specialist for the National Security Council.
Rocha’s wife, Karla Wittkop Rocha, would not comment when contacted by the AP. “I don’t need to talk to you,” he said before hanging up.
After retiring from the State Department, Rocha began a second career in business, serving as president of a gold mine in the Dominican Republic that was partially owned by Canada’s Barrick Gold.
Most recently, he held senior positions at XCoal, a coal exporter based in Pennsylvania; Clover Leaf Capital, a company established to facilitate mergers in the cannabis industry; law firm Foley & Lardner and Spanish public relations firm Llorente & Cuenca.
“Our firm remains committed to transparency and will monitor the situation closely, cooperating fully with the authorities if any information becomes available to us,” said Dario Alvarez, CEO of Llorente & Cuenca’s US operations, in an email.
XCoal and Clover Leaf Capital did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Foley & Lardner said Rocha left the law firm in August.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
