Manuel Rocha was arrested by FBI in Miami on Friday on a criminal complaint.
Manuel Rocha, former US ambassador to Bolivia, has been arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on allegations of spying for Cuba. According to Forbes, he was arrested as part of FBI counterintelligence investigation on Friday.
Here are five points on Manuel Rocha:
- Born in Colombia, Rocha grew up in New York and holds multiple degrees from Yale, Harvard and Georgetown universities. Forbes said he served is the US foreign service for over two decades.
- Rocha was appointed as the US ambassador to Bolivia in the year 2000. He had stirred a major controversy during the 2002 Bolivian election after suggesting US aid the country may stop if Evo Morales is elected to office.
- When he was finally elected three years later, Mr Morales expelled Rocha's successor as chief of the diplomatic mission for inciting "civil war".
- In his 25-year-long diplomatic career, he mostly served in Latin America, especially during the Cold War, Fox News said. He also served in Argentina, Italy, Honduras, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic in addition to Bolivia.
- After retirement, Rocha began a second career in business, serving as the president of a gold mine in the Dominican Republic partly owned by Canada's Barrick Gold.
