Details expected in court today after the arrest of former American diplomat, 73 year old Manuel Rocha. The ex-U.S. ambassador to Bolivia is accused of secretly serving as an agent of Cuba’s government.
FBI arrested him Friday in a Miami counterintelligence investigation.
What we know about Rocha:
Rocha boasts a 25-year diplomatic career that saw him serve under both Democratic and Republican administrations. Most of his diplomatic postings were in Latin America during the Cold War, a period marked by often severe US political and military policies. One such posting was at the US Interests Section in Cuba, at a time when the US lacked full diplomatic relations with Fidel Castro’s communist government.
Born in Colombia, Rocha was raised in a working-class home in New York City. His academic journey saw him obtain a series of liberal arts degrees from esteemed institutions such as Yale, Harvard, and Georgetown. He joined the foreign service in 1981.