The United States government started the process to withdraw citizenship from Víctor Manuel Rochathe former ambassador, convicted of spy for Cuba for decades while holding high-level positions in the US government.
The civil suit was filed in a Miami court by federal prosecutors, who maintain that Rocha obtained his naturalization through false declarations and hiding ties with the Cuban Communist Party.
What the Prosecutor’s Office argues against the former diplomat
According to the complaintRocha denied having participated in criminal activities and swore allegiance to the United States during his immigration process between 1977 and 1989despite the fact that he already maintained alleged links with the Cuban government.
Prosecutors assure that the former diplomat began to collaborate with security services Cuban intelligence in 1973, five years before completing your US citizenship.
“Víctor Manuel Rocha was not a low-level operator”said the federal prosecutor Jason A. Reding Quiñones, who described the former ambassador as “one of the most prolific Cuban spies discovered in the United States.”
From university student to State Department official
Rocha was born in Colombia and moved to New York when he was 10 years old with his mother and siblings.
The investigation maintains that he had contact with Cuban operatives while participating in a student program in Chile during the government of Salvador Allende. He later studied public administration at the Harvard University and completed postgraduate degrees in international relations at Georgetown.
According to the court document, Rocha would have continuedor instructions from Havana to enter the US foreign service and advance activities to settle in Cuba.
He held diplomatic and national security positions
After becoming naturalized in 1981, he began working at the State Department as a diplomatic officer focused on Honduras and was later assigned to the Dominican Republic.
Over the years he held senior positions, including roles in the National Security Council between 1994 and 1995 and the position of United States ambassador to Bolivia between 2000 and 2002.
He also carried out diplomatic functions in Argentina and Mexico.
How the espionage case was discovered
The criminal case came to light in 2023 after a fbi investigation which included an undercover agent posing as a representative of the Cuban intelligence.
During those recorded conversations, Rocha would have spoken about his work for Cuba for “more than 40 years” and He referred to Fidel Castro as “commander”.
In 2024 pleaded guilty to conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government and to defraud the United States, which resulted in a 15-year prison sentence.
He is currently serving his sentence at the FCI Coleman federal prison in Florida.
Trump seeks to withdraw all citizenship documents
Donald Trump’s administration now maintains that Rocha should never have been eligible to become a US citizen because of his alleged affiliations with the Cuban regime.
The complaint seeks for a court to approve the denaturalization of the former ambassador and order the delivery of passports and documents linked to his citizenship.
The US increases processes to withdraw citizenship
In recent years, the Department of Justice has increased citizenship revocation cases related to terrorism, espionage and threats to national security.
This same week, the Trump administration initiated similar proceedings against 11 other people accused of crimes such as child sexual abuse and field cloth support for terrorist groups.
Doubts persist about the extent of espionage
Although Rocha has already been convicted, US authorities continue to investigate What kind of information could he have given to Cuba? for decades within the United States diplomatic and security apparatus.
Reports cited in the investigation indicate that since 1987 there were suspicions that Fidel Castro had a “supermole” infiltrated the US government, and some officials believed that it could be Rocha.
During the first months of his imprisonment, the former diplomat was interrogated by federal authorities, although it has not been publicly reported what additional information he would have provided.
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