Justice Department Moves to Strip U.S. Citizenship from Former Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha, Convicted Cuban Spy

A former United States ambassador who admitted to secretly serving communist Cuba’s intelligence apparatus for decades is now facing the loss of something his 15-year prison sentence cannot touch: his American citizenship.

The Department of Justice filed a civil denaturalization complaint against Victor Manuel Rocha in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The Colombian-born former diplomat pleaded guilty in April 2024 to conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government and to defraud the United States, along with acting as an illegal foreign agent. He is currently serving his sentence.

Now the Trump administration wants to finish the job.

First one on the denaturalization list…the Trump administration is moving to strip former U.S. Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha, who admitted to being a spy for the Cuban government, of his U.S. citizenship.
The DOJ says Rocha lied on his naturalization paperwork, which allowed… pic.twitter.com/6KOVnJ0wdI

— Smoky Okie (Tim) (@RebornFatboy) May 10, 2026

The case rests on a damning timeline. Rocha admitted in criminal proceedings that he began spying for Cuba in 1973. He did not naturalize as a U.S. citizen until 1978. That means every answer he gave on his naturalization application was a lie, according to the complaint.

The Justice Department laid out the case in blunt terms:

Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said an agent of a foreign adversary should never be allowed to keep the title of American citizen, and he framed the complaint as part of DOJ’s mission to protect the naturalization process for immigrants who obey American law. U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones said Rocha was not a low-level operative, but a former U.S. ambassador and senior official who admitted he secretly served the Cuban regime for decades.

The department says Rocha admitted in criminal proceedings that he began spying for Cuba in 1973, five years before he naturalized in 1978. When Rocha applied for citizenship, DOJ says he falsely swore that he had no unarrested crimes, no Communist Party of Cuba affiliation, no support for communism, and a belief in the U.S. Constitution. The government is bringing seven independent civil counts seeking revocation of his citizenship, while noting that the civil complaint’s claims are allegations at this stage.

The scope of Rocha’s betrayal is staggering. The Daily Caller pulled together the career and criminal-case background behind the DOJ move:

Rocha spent roughly two decades climbing the ranks of the State Department, with diplomatic postings in Argentina, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba before serving as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002. Federal prosecutors say he was already tied to Cuban intelligence long before reaching those senior posts, and court documents describe a covert relationship with Havana that began years before his naturalization.

His double life unraveled when Rocha met with an FBI agent posing as a representative of Cuban intelligence. During those meetings, he admitted working for Cuba for “decades,” called the United States “the enemy,” and praised Fidel Castro, according to the case background cited by the outlet. The report also pointed back to Rocha’s 1978 naturalization paperwork, where prosecutors say his sworn answers concealed the very conduct that later became central to the spy case. At sentencing, U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom gave Rocha consecutive terms totaling 15 years and told him in a brief line that he had turned his back on the country.

DOJ moves to strip U.S. citizenship from convicted Cuban spy and former ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha @USAO_SDFL: "The case sends a clear deterrence message: betraying the United States and abusing the privileges of citizenship will carry lasting consequences beyond prison…

— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) May 11, 2026

It is important to note that the civil denaturalization complaint remains at the allegation stage. Civil liability has not been determined. The criminal case, however, already ended with Rocha’s guilty plea and prison sentence.

The message from the Trump Justice Department is clear: a prison cell is not the end of the consequences for someone who obtained American citizenship through fraud and then used it to betray the country for a communist regime. If the denaturalization succeeds, Rocha will leave prison without the citizenship he never deserved in the first place.