US moves to strip citizenship of ex-diplomat revealed as long-term Cuban spy

US federal prosecutors are seeking to revoke the American citizenship of imprisoned former US Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha, claiming he obtained it under false pretenses while secretly serving Cuba's interests for over five decades.

The Miami federal court filing alleges that Rocha falsely denied Communist ties and criminal conduct during his 1977-1978 naturalization process while covertly working for Cuba, according to NBC News' report on Friday.

Colombian-born Rocha was charged in December 2023 with conspiring to act as a foreign agent and defraud the US.

He pleaded guilty in 2024 to acting as an illegal foreign agent and defrauding the US, with a judge saying he had "betrayed the United States" for over five decades.

According to the filing, Rocha admitted in a 2024 plea deal that he began working covertly for Cuban intelligence in 1973, years before gaining US citizenship, and later used his government roles to support Havana's interests.

"Victor 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," US Attorney Jason A. Reding Quinones said in a news release Friday morning.

"The Southern District of Florida helped take down one of the most prolific Cuban spies ever uncovered in the United States," Quinones said, adding that Rocha acquired his 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," Quinones stated.

Rocha is currently serving a 15-year sentence at a federal prison in Florida.

He was allegedly recruited in Chile in 1973 to spy for Cuba. He later earned graduate degrees from Harvard and Georgetown, which prosecutors say supported his covert work.

He joined the US State Department in 1981 and served in Honduras, and then as a political officer at the US Embassy in the Dominican Republic from 1982 to 1985.

According to the US Attorney's Office, Rocha was recorded in meetings with an undercover FBI agent in 2022 and 2023, where he discussed his role as a Cuban intelligence agent.

During the exchanges, he referred to the US as "the enemy," and used "we" when speaking about Cuba. He also praised Fidel Castro as the "comandante" and called his Cuban intelligence contacts his "companeros."