Jonathan Nwokpor
Victor Manuel Rocha, a former US ambassador to Bolivia, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for spying on the US government for more than 10 years.
Rocha worked for Cuba to spy on the US government.
Rocha was sentenced on Friday by US District Judge Beth Bloom of Miami, who had accepted his guilty plea on two charges, one of which was serving as an agent of a foreign government.
Rocha also received the maximum penalty of $500,000 in fines.
The former US Ambassador was charged in December in a case that Attorney General Merrick Garland called “one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the US government by a foreign agent.”
Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen addressed the issue as follows:
“Today’s plea and sentencing brings to an end more than four decades of betrayal and deceit by the defendant.
“Rocha admitted to acting as an agent of the Cuban government at the same time he held numerous positions of trust in the U.S. government, a staggering betrayal of the American people and an acknowledgement that every oath he took to the United States was a lie.”
Throughout his more than 20 years in public service, Rocha held prominent positions in multiple embassies, the White House under the Bill Clinton administration, and as ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002.
Please don’t forget to “Allow the notification” so you will be the first to get our gist when we publish it.
Drop your comment in the section below, and don’t forget to share the post.
