Because the Rocha pleaded not guilty of jail recently in order to 15 government counts , FBI and you may State dept. detectives have been working to understand brand new case’s most significant forgotten bit: exactly what the longtime diplomat ages investigations, challenging by commonly-murky cleverness business, that is likely to capture ages.
S. counterintelligence authorities, Cuban intelligence defectors, and you will family unit members and you may acquaintances of Rocha so you can piece together what is understood thus far of his so-called betrayal, and the skipped clues and you can red flags that will have assisted him end scrutiny for a long time.
It was not just Rodriguez’s tipster – who the guy refused to identify into the AP however, says is recently questioned because of the FBI. Officials advised the fresh new AP you to as early as 1987, the CIA try alert Castro had a great “very mole” burrowed deep for the U.S. authorities. Particular now think it might were Rocha hence as the at the least 2010 he may was indeed on an initial record provided to the brand new FBI of you are able to Cuban spies high-up into the overseas plan sectors.
Rocha’s lawyer didn’t respond to texts trying to remark. The FBI and you will CIA rejected so you’re able to remark. The official Agencies told you in an announcement it will still work at associated organizations so you can “fully gauge the international policy and you can national shelter ramifications of those charges.”
“This is exactly an excellent monumental bang-up,” told you Peter Romero, a former assistant assistant of condition to own Latin The usa which spent some time working which have Rocha. “All of us are starting an abundance of soul searching and you may nobody can built one thing. The guy performed an extraordinary jobs level his songs.”
Humble Beginnings
He was produced for the Colombia and also at ages ten moved which have their widowed mother as well as 2 siblings to help you New york city. It stayed for a time within the Harlem whenever you are their mom has worked within the an effective sweatshop and got from the with the aid of dinner seal of approval.
An experienced sports pro having a-sharp intelligence, he obtained a scholarship to own minorities within the 1965 to visit The Taft University, a top-notch boarding school within the Connecticut. Overnight he had been skyrocketed from what he titled a good “ghetto” engulfed from inside the battle riots to help you a processed arena of American wide range.
But among never assume all minorities at the school, Rocha says the guy sustained discrimination – and a beneficial classmate exactly who would not area having him – something which fueled an effective grudge you to definitely family unit members believe might have provided your to help you respect Castro’s revolution.
Out-of Taft, he visited Yale, where he graduated with remembers that have a qualification when you look at the Latin american knowledge, and onto graduate run Harvard and you may Georgetown.
It is not obvious how Rocha was employed because of the Cuba but prosecutors say it happened a while from the 70s whenever he was nonetheless accumulating values and you can American school campuses was basically teeming with people sympathetic to leftist explanations.
In the 1973, the year he finished from Yale, Rocha traveled so you’re able to Chile, where prosecutors say he became a great “high buddy” out of Cuba’s intelligence agencies, all round Directorate of Intelligence, or DGI. One to exact same seasons, this new CIA assisted topple the fresh new Castro-backed socialist bodies out-of Salvador Allende, substitution it having a brutal armed forces dictatorship.
Within the same go out, Rocha entered the original of their three marriage ceremonies, to a mature Colombian lady the guy scarcely talked planning to household members, and you can who is now below analysis having you are able to connections in order to Cuba, single Volgograd in Russia lady according to anyone who has been asked of the FBI. The brand new AP is unable to achieve the lady or to track down any checklist of the relationship.
‘The Element of A good PLAN’
Immediately following signing up for new international service in 1981, one of Rocha’s basic overseas listings try given that a political-armed forces points administrator inside the Honduras, in which the guy informed the fresh Contras within their combat Cuba-recognized leftist rebels into the nearby Nicaragua.