By Chijioke Kingsley
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – Former United States, US, Ambassador to Bolivia, Victor Manuel Rocha, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for spying on the American government for over a decade.
Rocha spied on the US government for Cuba.
On Friday, Miami-based US District Judge Beth Bloom sentenced Rocha after accepting his guilty plea on two counts, including acting as an agent of a foreign government.
Rocha was also fined $500,000 with maximum penalty allowed.
In December, the former US Ambassador was indicted in a case that Attorney General Merrick Garland described as “one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the US government by a foreign agent.”
Speaking on the matter, the Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said:
“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.”
Rocha served as ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002, held high-ranking posts in several embassies and even the White House during the Bill Clinton administration over his more than 20 years in public service.
