Manuel Rocha headed the U.S. interests section in Cuba and continued to be involved in various policy areas, including the Cuban immigration deal under Obama, and he took part in the University of Miami’s Cuban Transition Project.
In short, just the kind of guy that the Cuban regime would be interested in.
This from frontpagemag.com.
The Manuel Rocha story in two headlines.
Ex-ambassador: Jacksonville should ready for U.S.-Cuban trade – Florida Times Union
Former US ambassador arrested, accused of secretly serving as agent to Cuba: report – FOX News
Rocha was allegedly quite ready for some Cuban trade.
According to The Associated Press:
A former American diplomat [Manuel Rocha] who served as a U.S. ambassador to Bolivia has been arrested and accused of secretly serving as an agent of Cuba’s government,
Officials say Manuel Rocha, 73, was arrested in Miami on Friday on a criminal complaint.
One of the two people who came forward with the complaint said the Justice Department case accuses Rocha of working to promote the Cuban government’s interests.
Allegedly, Rocha had a significant role in more than Bolivia.
Foley & Lardner quickly scrubbed any mention of Rocha, whom they had previously quoted on the entry of Cuban trade into Florida, but it is instructive to look at Rocha’s argument for ending the embargo all the way back in 2009:
Jacksonville should prepare for a future boom in trade between the United States and Cuba because ‘change is in the air’ regarding the decades-old embargo that has stifled interaction between the countries, a former U.S. ambassador to Bolivia said Tuesday.
V. Manuel Rocha, who is senior adviser on international business at Foley & Lardner LLP, said it’s not realistic to predict how many more years the embargo will remain in place.
Rocha said it wouldn’t necessarily be better for U.S. businesses if Cuba were to change its communist government. He said the current leadership of Cuba wants to ensure a ‘successor’ form of government so future leaders maintain a connection with the revolution that brought the Communist Party to power.
He said the other alternative for Cuba would entail a tumultuous ‘transition’ from the Communist Party to another form of government. He compared that possibility to the turmoil that occurred after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
Rocha explained:
There are more McDonald’s in ‘successor’ China than in ‘transition’ Russia because of the stability in China.
Very tellingly, Rocha was pitching American businesses on the idea that it would be better for them if Cuba remained a Communist dictatorship.
These people aren’t hard to spot, we so rarely bother to spot them or to do anything about them.
Final thought: “Hard to spot” indeed. I’m all for hanging a traitor, but isn’t the rest of the Foreign Service or all of Congress striving to encourage one thing or another that will consequently benefit one nation or another at America’s expense?
