{"id":946313,"date":"2026-05-08T15:15:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T15:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/946313\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T15:15:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T15:15:18","slug":"u-s-seeks-to-strip-citizenship-from-american-diplomat-turned-cuban-spy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/946313\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. seeks to strip citizenship from American diplomat turned Cuban spy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federal prosecutors are seeking to strip former U.S. diplomat Victor Manuel Rocha of his American citizenship, arguing he fraudulently obtained naturalization decades ago while secretly working as an agent for Cuba.<\/a><\/p>\n

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The complaint, filed in federal court in Miami, alleges Rocha lied repeatedly during his 1977 and 1978 naturalization process by denying any ties to the Communist Party, denying he had committed crimes, and swearing allegiance to the United States even as he was secretly spying for Cuba. Rocha was born in Colombia. <\/p>\n

In December 2023, Rocha was charged with conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government and to defraud the United States. <\/p>\n

\u201cVictor Manuel Rocha was not a low-level operative. He was a former United States Ambassador and senior government official who admitted he secretly served the Cuban regime for decades,\u201d U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Qui\u00f1ones said in a news release Friday morning. \u201cThe Southern District of Florida helped take down one of the most prolific Cuban spies ever uncovered in the United States. This civil denaturalization case is about finishing the job. The complaint alleges that Rocha obtained American citizenship through lies, concealment, and betrayal. A person who secretly serves communist Cuba should not keep the privilege of United States citizenship, even while in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ProtestersProtesters demand the “maximum sentence” for Victor Manuel Rocha outside court in Miami in 2024. Chandan Khanna \/ AFP via Getty Images file<\/p>\n

According to the filing, Rocha admitted in a 2024 plea agreement that he began serving as a covert agent for Cuba\u2019s intelligence services<\/a> in 1973 \u2014 five years before becoming a U.S. citizen. Prosecutors say he used his later positions inside the U.S. government, including at the State Department, to advance Cuba\u2019s intelligence interests. <\/p>\n

In 2024, Rocha pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an illegal agent of a foreign government and defrauding the United States. During his sentencing, a federal judge told Rocha he had \u201cbetrayed the United States\u201d for more than 50 years. <\/a><\/p>\n

The government now argues Rocha was never legally eligible for citizenship because of his affiliation with Cuba\u2019s Communist government and because he allegedly committed perjury during the naturalization process. <\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors are asking the court to revoke Rocha\u2019s citizenship, cancel his certificate of naturalization, and require him to surrender all U.S. passports and other proof of citizenship. Rocha is currently serving a 15-year federal prison sentence at FCI Coleman in Central Florida. <\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the naturalization process, Rocha represented that he had never knowingly committed any crime for which he had not been arrested, had no affiliation with the Communist Party, and believed in the U.S. Constitution and the form of government of the United States,\u201d the complaint said. \u201cNone of these were true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rocha, 75, is a former U.S. Department of State employee who served on the National Security Council from 1994 to 1995 and as U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002. <\/p>\n

The complaint reiterates an eye-opening timeline of Rocha\u2019s work for the Cuban government. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1973, five years before Rocha naturalized, he secretly began supporting the Republic of Cuba and its clandestine intelligence-gathering mission against the United States by serving as a covert agent of Cuba\u2019s intelligence services,\u201d the complaint details. <\/p>\n

Rocha was attending a student program in Chile in 1973 when he was first approached by and started conspiring to spy for the Republic of Cuba, the complaint adds. <\/p>\n

Rocha completed a master\u2019s degree in public administration from Harvard University in 1976 and a master\u2019s degree in international relations from Georgetown University in 1978 to advance his service as a secret agent of Cuba, according to the complaint. <\/p>\n

In November 1981, Rocha began his career with the U.S. Department of State as an International Relations Officer on the Honduras desk.<\/p>\n

From in or around December 1982 to in or around January 1985, Rocha served as a Political Officer at the United States Embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am mindful that Rocha\u2019s decades-long criminal activity on behalf of the Cuban Government is especially painful for many in South Florida,\u201d said former U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida the day Rocha was sentenced. <\/p>\n

In an April 2024 press release, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s office revealed how Rocha was caught: <\/p>\n

In a series of meetings during 2022 and 2023, with an undercover FBI agent posing as a covert Cuban General Directorate of Intelligence representative, Rocha made repeated statements admitting his \u201cdecades\u201d of work for Cuba, spanning \u201c40 years.\u201d <\/p>\n

When the undercover agent told Rocha he was \u201ca covert representative here in Miami\u201d whose mission was \u201cto contact you, introduce myself as your new contact, and establish a new communication plan,\u201d Rocha answered \u201cYes,\u201d and proceeded to engage in lengthy conversations during which he described and celebrated his activity as a Cuban intelligence agent. <\/p>\n

Throughout the meetings, Rocha behaved as a Cuban agent, consistently referring to the United States as \u201cthe enemy,\u201d and using the term \u201cwe\u201d to describe himself and Cuba. <\/p>\n

Rocha additionally praised Fidel Castro as the \u201cComandante,\u201d and referred to his contacts in Cuban intelligence as his \u201cCompa\u00f1eros\u201d (comrades) and to the Cuban intelligence services as the \u201cDirecci\u00f3n.\u201d Rocha described his work as a Cuban agent as \u201cenormous \u2026 More than a grand slam,\u201d and asserted that what he did \u201cstrengthened the Revolution \u2026 immensely.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Federal prosecutors are seeking to strip former U.S. diplomat Victor Manuel Rocha of his American citizenship, arguing he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":946314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-946313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-united-states","9":"tag-us","10":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116539616814308945","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}