The US has charged one of its former ambassadors of spying for the government of Cuba for 40 years, the Justice Department announced Monday, APA reports citing DW.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement explaining the charges against Victor Manuel Rocha as “one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent.”

According to the Justice Department, Rocha has been charged with conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government, acting as an agent of a foreign government without prior government consent, and using a US passport obtained by making false statements.

The 73-year-old allegedly revealed his decades-long work on behalf of the Cuban government to an undercover FBI agent posing as a Cuban operative last year.

The court filing said that Havana’s intelligence services instructed Rocha to “lead a normal life.” He is said to have admitted to having created the “legend,” or artificial persona, “of a right-wing person.”

“Those
who have the privilege of serving in the government of the United States are given an enormous amount of trust by the public we serve,” Attorney General Garland said.

“To betray that trust by falsely pledging loyalty to the United States while serving a foreign power is a crime that will be met with the full force of the Justice Department,” he added.

Source: Azeri-Press News Agency