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Previous ambassador to Bolivia billed for allegedly collaborating with Cuban intelligence services around a number of a long time.
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged a previous US ambassador to Bolivia for allegedly performing with Cuban intelligence products and services as an undercover agent for numerous a long time.
In courtroom papers unsealed on Monday, the DOJ alleged that Manuel Rocha had taken section in “clandestine activity” with the Cuban governing administration because at the very least 1981, sharing fake details with the US and assembly with Cuban operatives.
The 73-12 months-aged former ambassador labored in the US International Provider for 25 many years, holding prime posts in South American nations these kinds of as Bolivia and Argentina.
The scenario against Rocha “exposes one of the maximum-achieving and longest-long lasting infiltrations of the United States federal government by a international agent”, Lawyer Standard Merrick Garland reported in a statement explaining the expenses.
“Those who have the privilege of serving in the government of the United States are specified an massive volume of belief by the public we provide,” Garland mentioned.
“To betray that trust by falsely pledging loyalty to the United States when serving a overseas electrical power is a crime that will be achieved with the whole power of the Justice Department.”
The DOJ has billed Rocha with performing as an illegal agent of a international government. US law needs those performing on behalf of foreign governments to register with the DOJ.
The Affiliated Push information company noted that Rocha was arrested on Friday as section of a counterintelligence probe by the FBI, the US domestic intelligence company.
The AP claimed that Rocha was charged in a federal court in Miami, Florida, and that he is anticipated to seem in court on Monday.
The website of the US Division of Condition suggests that Rocha was sworn in as ambassador to Bolivia on July 14, 2000.
In 2002 he intervened in Bolivia’s presidential race, warning that the US would lower off aid if Bolivians elected Evo Morales, a still left-wing candidate and former coca leaf grower.
Rocha’s speech, interpreted as an exertion to form the outcome of an election in a region exactly where the US has a extended history of subterfuge and interference, angered Bolivians and served propel Morales to victory.
Because retiring from government service, Rocha has started off a new job as the president of a Dominican gold mine owned partly by Canada’s Barrick Gold that has been accused of environmental degradation, the AP claimed.
The organization has also confronted allegations that it was complicit in extrajudicial killings in Tanzania.
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