Former US diplomat Victor Manuel Rocha has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for acting as an agent of Cuba, in what the US Department of Justice calls one of the longest and most far-reaching infiltrations of the US government. Rocha supported Cuba’s Communist Party for over four decades, including during his 20-year career in the US Department of State. He was arrested in December 2023 on charges of engaging in clandestine activity since 1981 and was caught admitting his work as a Cuban mole to an undercover FBI agent. Despite his actions being described as a “betrayal and deceit” by the US Justice Department, the full extent of his cooperation with Havana may never be known. US-Cuba relations have been strained for over 60 years, with multiple assassination attempts on Castro’s life and the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 bringing the US and USSR to the brink of nuclear war. While former President Obama took steps to ease tensions with Cuba, former President Trump reversed many of those measures. Current President Biden has lifted some sanctions on Cuba, but the country’s economy remains strangled. The UN General Assembly has passed over 30 resolutions condemning the US embargo of Cuba, but any meaningful action against the embargo requires approval from the Security Council, where the US holds a veto. Victor Manuel Rocha’s case highlights the complexities and challenges in US-Cuba relations and underscores the ongoing tensions between the two nations.
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Ex- US Diplomat Convicted of Spying for Cuba Receives 15-Year Prison Sentence | Espionage Update
