# Former US Ambassador arrested for being possible Cuban agent **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 4, 2023, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-us-ambassador-arrested-for-being-possible-cuban-agent/994098 "2023-12-04T13:09:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2023, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-us-ambassador-arrested-for-being-possible-cuban-agent/994098/1 "2023-12-04T13:09:57Z")
It’s just amazing that people overturn a lifetime of service and accomplishments for (presumably) a paycheck. I can’t think what else they promised him. Maybe a government job if/when the sanctions are lifted on Cuba? > **[Former US ambassador arrested in Florida, accused of serving as Cuban agent,...](https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/former-us-ambassador-arrested-florida-accused-serving-agent-105345994)** > > The Associated Press has learned that a former American diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia has been arrested in a long-running FBI counterintelligence investigation and is accused of secretly serving as an agent of the Cuban government ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2023, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-us-ambassador-arrested-for-being-possible-cuban-agent/994098/2 "2023-12-04T14:38:40Z")
The profile of various spies and double agents and espionage debacles over the years shows some people will do it for money, sometimes for a lot of money, but oftentimes for ridiculously paltry sums. But some of the worst, most damaging examples to state security were done by “true believers”, they weren’t interested in money at all. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2023, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-us-ambassador-arrested-for-being-possible-cuban-agent/994098/3 "2023-12-04T15:09:37Z")
It was Kim Philby who explained, “To betray, you must first belong.” OK, but I think a lot more details need to be forthcoming before we can assume Rocha fell into the same category versus just accepted paltry sums of money. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2023, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-us-ambassador-arrested-for-being-possible-cuban-agent/994098/4 "2023-12-04T22:53:42Z")
The traditional formula for recruiting spies is M.I.C.E.: Money, Ideology, Compromise, Ego. Money: He seems to have been pretty well-heeled, but he may have had some debts he couldn’t pay with his federal pension. Or he may simply have been greedy. Ideology. As ambassador to Bolivia, he pissed off the Bolivian leftists. On the other hand, his post-retirement career includes a cannabis company. He does not appear to be sympathetic to Marxism. Then again, the spies in the [Cambridge Five](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Five) ring maintained their covers until the cops were at their heels. Compromise: perhaps the Cubans had photographs of him doing something his wife would disapprove of. Ego: Some bureaucrats resent the people above them in the chain of command. Some people think they are too good for petty little nation-states. Some are simply trolls who want to get away with something forbidden. We won’t know anything about his motives until a trial. Possibly not even then. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2023, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-us-ambassador-arrested-for-being-possible-cuban-agent/994098/5 "2023-12-05T13:56:10Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > We won’t know anything about his motives Well, he seemed to be pretty open [when he thought he was talking to a Cuban operative](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/04/diplomat-spying-cuba-victor-manuel-rocha): > Rocha allegedly kept referring to the US as the “the enemy” and used the term “we” to describe himself and Cuba, praised Fidel Castro as the “Comandante” and referred to his contacts in Cuban intelligence as his “_compañeros_ ” (comrades), according to the US government statement. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2023, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-us-ambassador-arrested-for-being-possible-cuban-agent/994098/6 "2023-12-05T15:20:35Z")
OK, ideology it is. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2023, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-us-ambassador-arrested-for-being-possible-cuban-agent/994098/7 "2023-12-05T16:17:28Z")
He might have been telling that “operative” what he thought he wanted to hear. The full truth will likely never be known. I’m not sure that it matters. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-us-ambassador-arrested-for-being-possible-cuban-agent/994098/8 "2024-01-09T12:02:41Z")
A follow-up story in the BBC about Rocha. It does sound as if he was a True Believer. And it must make things easier for the Cuban intelligence services if all they have to think about is the USA. > **[The Cuban spying case that has shocked the US government](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-67913465)** > > Ex-CIA agent says Cuba has 'surpassed the KGB' as a former top US diplomat is charged with spying.