Former US ambassador arrested in Florida, accused of serving as an agent of Cuba, AP supply says

MIAMI (AP) — A former American diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia has been arrested in a long-running FBI counterintelligence investigation, accused of secretly serving as an agent of Cuba’s authorities, The Related Press has realized.

Manuel Rocha, 73, was arrested in Miami on Friday on a felony grievance and extra particulars concerning the case are anticipated to be made public at a courtroom look Monday, mentioned two individuals who spoke to the AP on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to debate an ongoing federal investigation.

One of many individuals mentioned the Justice Division case accuses Rocha of working to advertise the Cuban authorities’s pursuits. Federal legislation requires individuals doing the political bidding of a international authorities or entity contained in the U.S. to register with the Justice Division, which in recent times has stepped up its felony enforcement of illicit international lobbying.

The Justice Division declined to remark. It was not instantly clear if Rocha had a lawyer and a legislation agency the place he beforehand labored mentioned it was not representing him. His spouse hung up when contacted by the AP.

Rocha’s 25-year diplomatic profession was spent below each Democratic and Republican administrations, a lot of it in Latin America through the Chilly Conflict, a interval of typically heavy-handed U.S. political and army insurance policies. His diplomatic postings included a stint on the U.S. Pursuits Part in Cuba throughout a time when the U.S. lacked full diplomatic relations with Fidel Castro’s communist authorities.

Born in Colombia, Rocha was raised in a working-class residence in New York Metropolis and went on to acquire a succession of liberal arts levels from Yale, Harvard and Georgetown earlier than becoming a member of the international service in 1981.

He was the highest U.S. diplomat in Argentina between 1997 and 2000 as a decade-long foreign money stabilization program backed by Washington was unraveling below the load of big international debt and stagnant development, triggering a political disaster that might see the South American nation cycle by 5 presidents in two weeks.

At his subsequent submit as ambassador to Bolivia, he intervened straight into the 2002 presidential race, warning weeks forward of the vote that the U.S. would reduce off help to the poor South American nation if it have been to elect former coca grower Evo Morales.

“I need to remind the Bolivian voters that in the event that they vote for many who need Bolivia to return to exporting cocaine, that can critically jeopardize any future help to Bolivia from the US,″ Rocha mentioned in a speech that was broadly interpreted as a an try and maintain U.S. dominance within the area.

The gambit angered Bolivians and gave Morales a last-minute enhance. When he was lastly elected three years later, the leftist chief expelled Rocha’s successor as chief of the diplomatic mission for inciting “civil battle.”

Rocha additionally served in Italy, Honduras, Mexico and the Dominican Republic, and labored as a Latin America skilled for the Nationwide Safety Council.

Rocha’s spouse, Karla Wittkop Rocha, wouldn’t remark when contacted by the AP. “I don’t want to speak to you,” she mentioned earlier than hanging up.

Following his retirement from the State Division, Rocha started a second profession in enterprise, serving because the president of a gold mine within the Dominican Republic partly owned by Canada’s Barrick Gold.

Extra just lately, he’s held senior roles at XCoal, a Pennsylvania-based coal exporter; Clover Leaf Capital, an organization shaped to facilitate mergers within the hashish trade; legislation agency Foley & Lardner and Spanish public relations corporations Llorente & Cuenca.

“Our agency stays dedicated to transparency and can carefully monitor the state of affairs, cooperating absolutely with the authorities if any info turns into out there to us,” Dario Alvarez, CEO of Llorente & Cuenca’s U.S. operations, mentioned in an e-mail.

XCoal and Clover Leaf Capital didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. Foley & Lardner mentioned Rocha left the legislation agency in August.

____

Tucker reported from Washington.

___ Contact AP’s international investigative workforce at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/suggestions/