This story is notable because it is so twisted. It reads like something that you would find in a second-rate spy thriller novel but it happened for real. Manuel Rocha pretended to be a staunch anti-communist Republican for years in his U.S. government positions -- but actually was a spy for Cuba. "Manuel Rocha, the former U.S. ambassador arrested in Miami earlier this month accused of being a covert agent for Cuba, had a reputation for being a staunch anti-communist Republican." "Rocha later told an FBI undercover agent his “right-wing persona” was part of an act following orders from Cuban intelligence, according to his admission, taped in video and quoted in a federal indictment." Ex-diplomat accused of working for Cuba bought claims to property confiscated by Castro https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article283025118.html Manuel Rocha, the former U.S. ambassador arrested in Miami earlier this month accused of being a covert agent for Cuba, had a reputation for being a staunch anti-communist Republican. He advocated maintaining the decades-long embargo against Cuba in a 2004 event at the University of Miami, warning that lifting it before Fidel Castro’s demise would lead to leadership succession within the same communist system, and not democracy, the Miami Herald reported at the time. Rocha later told an FBI undercover agent his “right-wing persona” was part of an act following orders from Cuban intelligence, according to his admission, taped in video and quoted in a federal indictment. But there was more. For years, Rocha led behind-the-scene efforts to buy claims on U.S. properties in Cuba that had been confiscated without compensation during the early days of Fidel Castro’s revolution and to promote investment on the island to weaken the U.S. economic embargo on the island. The recent charges against Rocha call into question why he did it and what the Cuban government’s interest in the claims could have been. Around 2007, Rocha and his partner, Timothy Ashby, a lawyer and former deputy assistant secretary of the U.S Commerce Department, began traveling around the country trying to buy some of the property claims, which they transferred to an offshore company with the plan to later negotiate compensation from the Cuban government. Ashby, who still works as a consultant advising companies about doing business with Cuba, said he was “completely shocked” when the charges against his former partner were recently unveiled. “He was the last person I would have ever thought had been a Cuban intelligence agent,” he said. “He was strongly anti-communist, very pro-Republican, quite conservative. And he made a point of that throughout the whole time I knew him.” Ashby described Rocha as “energetic” and “keen to make money. He never felt that he was fully compensated for all the hard work he put into government.” He said he met Rocha through an acquaintance and that the former ambassador attracted “non-U.S. investors” interested in his plan. The U.S. claims to confiscated property in Cuba lie at the heart of the U.S. embargo. U.S. law requires a resolution of the issue before the embargo — imposed on Cuba during the early days of the revolution — can be lifted. U.S. citizens and companies hold 5,913 certified claims to confiscated property in Cuba, with an estimated value of $8.7 billion. The two governments held preliminary talks on a potential settlement under the Obama administration, but Cuba ultimately rejected the effort. If Rocha and Ashby’s plan had succeeded, the two countries might have been on the verge of fully normalizing relations. The claims are also one of the biggest impediments the Cuban government faces in attracting foreign investment to the island, because they scare away big companies and investors worried about potential U.S. lawsuits for “trafficking in confiscated property” or losing their visas to enter the United States. Those are two of the potential penalties in a law Congress enacted in 1996, the Cuba Libertad Act, to punish foreign companies that do business in Cuba involving such properties. Rocha’s involvement in the plan has not been previously reported. If he was acting as an agent of the Cuban government, as U.S. prosecutors charge, he might have had motivations other than making money. Jason Poblete, a lawyer and expert on the confiscated properties, said he believes Cuba has been trying for years to find alternative ways to remove the legal threats posed by the claims. For the communist government, figuring out a way to “get rid” of the claims on premier properties could pave the way to foreign investment, he said. (Much more at above url)