Getty Images/Gonzalo Espinoza
Federal prosecutors revealed Monday that they nabbed Manuel Rocha, the former U.S. ambassador to Bolivia who was arrested on accusations he spied for Cuba, by tricking him into believing an FBI agent was his new contact from the Cuban government.
Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, was detained in Miami on Friday after he allegedly told an undercover agent he’d been a “grand slam” foreign agent for more than four decades, the Department of Justice said in a statement.
The feds said the FBI had been meeting with Rocha since last year, tricking him into believing an undercover agent was really a covert Cuban General Directorate of Intelligence representative who was sent to “establish a new communication plan” with him.