14ymedio, Madrid, 5 December 2023 — The Prosecutor’s Office formally accused Manuel Rocha, former US diplomat, of having spied on his country for Cuba, which he called “the enemy” according to the information that intelligence had and that was revealed this Monday after the filing of the complaint before a federal court in Miami. The complaint is based on the sworn statement of FBI special agent Michael Haley, who managed to extract the information from the former official in several secret meetings.
According to the documentation, Rocha collaborated in a “clandestine mission to collect information from Cuba against the United States” since 1981, but his task has continued over time, since in 2017 he held a meeting with the Cuban Intelligence Directorate (DGI) in which he boasted of “having strengthened the Revolution” for 40 years at the service of the Government of the Island.
Rocha was working as Deputy Principal Officer of the then US Interests Section in Havana when the Brothers to the Rescue [Hermanos al Rescate] planes were shot down in February 1996, a time that he described in his meetings with the FBI as “very tense.” “It was the time of the Brothers to the Rescue and other types of people who put political pressure through unnecessary provocations.” On one of the trips, on the orders of Raúl Castro, two small planes of the organization were attacked with missiles by a MiG fighter of the Cuban Air Force. All four crew members died.
“It was the time of the Brothers to the Rescue and other types of people who put political pressure through unnecessary provocations”
Rocha, who is currently 73 years old, faces very serious accusations, such as conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government, acting as an agent in the service of a foreign government and having obtained a passport through a false declaration. But things could go further, as prosecutors warn that the investigation is not closed and new crimes may appear. A detention hearing is scheduled for this Wednesday.
Haley, posing as a member of Cuban intelligence, contacted Rocha in November 2022, with whom she arranged a meeting which the former diplomat attended, after carrying out a “surveillance detection route in accordance with DGI techniques.” The agent introduced himself as his new contact in Miami and Rocha thanked him for the exchange, adding that he had visited Havana for a meeting in 2016 or 2017, where he arrived with a Dominican passport. “I want you to tell my colleagues that I very much appreciate it and thank them for this alert,” he added.
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