Former U.S. Ambassador Manuel Rocha is seen in a meeting with an undercover FBI agent that is being secretly filmed while he was under investigation for illegally lobbying for Cuba for decades. Rocha was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Friday. Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Justice
April 13 (UPI) -- Former U.S. ambassador Manuel Rocha has been sentenced to 15 years in prison sentence after pleading guilty to acting as an illegal foreign agent for Cuba for decades.
Rocha, 73, who served on the National Security Council from 1994 to 1995 and as U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002, on Friday pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government and one count of acting as an agent of a foreign government without giving notice to the United States.
U.S. District Court Judge Beth Bloom sentenced Rocha to five years for conspiracy and 10 years for acting as a foreign agent. He must also pay a $500,000 fine.
Bloom during the hearing called Rocha "an enemy of the United States government."
"Your actions were a direct attack on our democracy and the safety of our citizens," she said, according to the Miami Herald. "You turned your back on this country, a country that gave you everything."
Per his plea deal, Rocha will cooperate with the U.S. government, including assisting with evaluating any compromises to national security relating to his work with Cuba. He also must forfeit all retirement benefits owed to him by the U.S. government.
Prosecutors also dropped charges for lying to investigators and wire fraud under the plea agreement.
Bloom expressed dissatisfaction with prosecutors' initial plea agreement, arguing it didn't punish Rocha enough for his "betrayal" of the United States.
She also asked prosecutors why Rocha was not stripped of his citizenship. According to the case, Rocha became a U.S. citizen in 1978 while working as a foreign agent of Cuba.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Stratton said the government considered stripping him of his citizenship but prioritized his guilty plea.
"We are not making concessions or foregoing the civil division going after denaturalization as part of its case. We are just not mandating it," he said.
At Rocha's age, he will likely spend the rest of his life in prison, Stratton noted.
Prosecutors updated the plea agreement to include that the government may seek to revoke Rocha's citizenship in a civil proceeding.
After Rocha was charged in December, he transferred the deeds of four luxury condos, valued at more than $4 million, to his wife. He also transferred his two bank accounts to her.
Rocha had served in numerous diplomatic positions in the U.S. government. He served under President Bill Clinton as his director of Inter-American Affairs on the National Security Council. and as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia under President George W. Bush.
He also served on missions in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Argentina.
During Friday's hearing, Bloom also argued the prosecution had not done enough to investigate other possible victims of Rocha's actions, noting the killing of four Cuban-American men who belonged to Brothers to the Rescue, an American group opposed to Fidel Castro's government.
The men were killed when the Cuban military shot down two of their planes in 1996. Rocha was described as "in charge" of the incident, which he called the "knock down of the small planes."
Prosecutors argued the only victim in the case is the U.S. government, but the revised plea agreement allows for newly identified victims to seek restitution.
