Ex-US diplomat arrested in Miami for allegedly acting as a Cuban agent

A former US ambassador to Bolivia, Manuel Rocha, 73, was taken into custody in Miami on Friday by the FBI on charges of secretly acting as an agent of Cuba, according to two sources who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.s)..

AP reported that Rocha is accused of working to advance the interests of the Cuban government inside the US, without registering with the justice department as required by law..

He then became the US ambassador to Bolivia, where he meddled in the 2002 presidential election, threatening to cut off US aid to the country if the voters elected Evo Morales, a former coca farmer and leftist leader..

I want to remind the Bolivian electorate that if they vote for those who want Bolivia to return to exporting cocaine, that will seriously jeopardize any future aid to Bolivia from the United States, Rocha said in a speech that was widely seen as an attempt to maintain US hegemony in the region..

After retiring from the state department, Rocha embarked on a second career in business, holding senior positions at a gold mine in the Dominican Republic partly owned by Canadas Barrick Gold, a coal exporter in Pennsylvania, a cannabis merger company, a law firm and a Spanish public relations firm..

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