Ex-Ambassador Charged As Agent, Houthi Attack, Nelson Mandela's Death Anniversary
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The attorney general accused the former ambassador of working for cuba.

This action exposes one of the highest reaching and longest lasting inflations.

How to officials learn of his double life?

I'm A L. Martin that Steve and skipping, this is a first from N. P. R, news, the pentagon says an armed group in yemen attacked several ships in the red sea.

IT was a matter of time before the who see would become involved military.

But what's in IT for them? We hear some of the reasons that a group link to iran is taking part .

in the israel homos war. Also, how has Nelson mandella s reputation changed over time? He LED the movement that ended south african apartheid, but ten years after his death.

photos question the performance of the political party .

he left to start your day.

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How did the former U. S. Ambassador come to be arrested as an agent of cuba?

Federal prosecutors alleged that the victim, will rocha, worked for cuba for decades. His initial court appearance yesterday was a startling turn. In his long career, he served in several government posts .

relating to land america. And we are just this corresponded ryan luis covering his case. Ryan, good night. good.

So roches, seventy three years old, he was born columbia, became A U. S. Citizen in the late seventies, in few years after that, started working for the state department.

And he had a very successful career. He worked in various U. S.

Embassy, central amErica in the one hundred and eighty. He served on the national security council. In the mid nineties.

He was actually the director of an office that responsible for, among other things, cuba. He later served in a senior post for the U. S.

Intersection in cuba and ultimately ended his career as the us. Ambassador to belize. A from one thousand nine hundred ninety ninety two thousand.

Two, after he left the state department, he wanted to the private sector. He worked as an adviser to the commander of the U. S. Military southern command for several years. That command is responsible for, you may have guessed, IT, cuba, among other things, OK. But prosecutors say that all that time, getting all the way back to nine hundred and eighty one and up to the present day, rocha was also secretly working as an agent of the .

cuban government. Wow, what are the charges that would illustrate that?

Well, there are three charges in a criminal complaint against Roger thus far, conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government, acting as an illegal agent of a foreign and using a passport obtained by false statement. But here's how a turny general, mark garland, kind of summed up what prosecutors say rocha was up to.

The complaint alleges that rocha s sought out and used his positions within the united states government to support cubas clandestine intelligence gathering mission against the united states.

Now, girl in only briefly talked about this case yesterday, but even in his limited reMarks, he did give a sense of the magnitude of this case. Here is, again.

this action exposes one of the highest reaching and longest lasting infiltrations of the U. S. Government by a foreign agent.

Okay, talk only briefly. So we don't have a good idea of what he did on a data basis over those forty years. But how did the department catch him?

Well, it's it's a good question is for how this went on as long as I did. But court papers say the FBI got a tip of some sort and twenty twenty two that rocha was working with cuba intelligence services and so the FBI ran in since sting Operation against them a little over a year ago. And undercover FBI agent sent roa a text on what's apps saying that they had a message for him from his good and good friends in havana.

Rocha ended up meeting the undercover agent three times. The FBI, of course, had rocha under surveilLance at this point, so they recorded all three of these meetings. Court papers include excerpts from them in which rocha makes incriminating statements about work that he says that he's done at the direction of cuban intelligence. He allegedly said that cuban intelligence asked him to lead a Normal life, and so he created a legend, which is intelligence lingo, for a back story of a right when person court papers say he bragged about what he done for cuba. And he allegedly told the undercover age that he was still, at this point, dedicated to the cuban cause.

I I want to stand this, a right wing person, but also bragging about what he done for cuba, meaning that in public he was like anti cuba, anti communist, but privately was bragged about what is doing that. What you're saying? That's correct. yes. So when do we learn more about what he allegedly did?

Well, he was in court yesterday. Prosecutors suggested in court that they're going to bring more charges. In this case, a detention hearing is scheduled for tomorrow. So there may be more to learn in the days and weeks to come.

And peers ran. Luis, thanks so much. Thank you.

Next we will try to understand why the war between israel and hamas has spread to the waters of the red sea.

That's where a commercial ships have come under fire and where the U. S. Navy says IT has fired back in the most recent incident, the hooky rebels who control much of women allegedly open fire. The iranian back group has said that, quote, all israeli ships are those associated with israel's unquote may become targets.

Mp jo hana is covering the story. Joe, good morning. Good morning. OK understand that the who is like a lot of groups connected with iran, our supporting hamas, and consider israel their enemy. But why would they be attacking ships in the red sea?

Well, the woods say they are attacking ships with links to israel. But one expert I spoke to about this also says the woods feel embolden right now to Carry out these kinds of attacks. The group over through yemen's government in two thousand and fourteen, and in the years since then, has managed to withstand this outside military intervention LED by sadi arabia, which of course, is arrival to iran.

So the who is now feel like there in a to grow from a domestic power to a regional one. Thomas june o. Is a professor at the university of ottawa. He studies the middle east. And here's how he put IT to me when .

the gaz war started in early october. To me, IT was a matter of time before the who sees would become involved military genois.

There are a couple other reasons for these attacks from the hood's. One is they send a message of support to iran, hamas and hezbollah. The others is that IT helps them gain favor at home in yemen, where he says there's a wide support for the eesti ian cause in opposition to israel.

Okay, so what happened in this most recent incident?

Well, the U. S. Central command reported that the woody's attacked three vessels over several hours on sunday, apparently using both ballistic missiles and drones. The naval destroyer, the U. S. S. Carney, was on patrol in the area at the time and responded to several of the attacks, in some cases shooting down several woozy drones. In a statement sent, comm said the attacks were, quote, fully enabled by iran and that the us would consider, quote, all appropriate responses and full coordination with its international allies and partners. And a woozy military spokesman did take credit for attacking two of the ships.

according to the associated press. Okay, you said all appropriate responses. Other than shooting down incoming projectors, what can the united states do about this?

What's unclear, it's not the first time the hoods have targeted ships in the red sea, nor is at the first time they've targeted U. S. Naval vessels.

In twenty sixteen, missile were fired from coastal yemen toward A U. S. Navy destroyer twice in four days, and the us. Responded at that time by firing missiles of its own at three radar installations and hooky territory, and that stopped the woods from targeting american ships for several years. But Thomas junos says it's unclear if a similar us response today would have the same effect.

Can the U. S. A reestablish a form of of mutual deterrence? H in the red, see with the who is IT will be much more difficult to do that today than in twenty sixteen, because the who sees are far more powerful now than they were before, and they feel much more involved in.

So what he says does seem clear that the U. S. In iran don't want any direct escalates with each other. And I should add that other iran back.

Militant groups have Carried out some attacks on us forces, but they've mostly been on a smaller scale in the U. S. Has responded with limited air strikes.

iran and this, thanks so much. You go.

Mellon mandela, south africa's first democratically elected president, looms over his country's history when he .

died on this state ten years ago at the age of ninety five, he was known to the world as a visionary leader. And at home in south africa, he was often called by his clan name madiba, as a gesture of affection and respect. But the legacy of the man who helps pull the nation out from under the shadow of apartheid is still being debated.

Kate bartlett is following that debate from john is welcome morning.

Steve.

okay. So this happens in the the united states. Historical figures look different to different generations. We look at different aspects of their lives. So what is happening with Nelson mandela's .

legacy by most people are saying he's still generally reveal. But there is a small vocal group, many people on university campuses, Young people who call him a sell out, uh, hard to believe after he spent twenty seven years of his life in jail for a cause, black liberation and achieve that cause but they say he should have done more after the end of apartheid to increase black economic clout in south africa and say he was too concerned with being conciliatory.

Of course, his supporters point out that he did this to avoid a civil war. Most of the people I spoke to a reporting the story are grateful mandela bought them freedom, but angry at how politicians then wasted the opportunities they had to make their lives Better. They angry at the huge unemployment rates of power crisis that seems almost daily blackouts, constant news stories about government graph.

Oh, they're thinking about what came after liberation. And is some of the blame going to mandell's party, the african national congress?

absolutely. I'd saying his one story, ed. Anc is definitely in trouble. The A, N. C, as you know, has been in power since the end of apartheid, enjoying huge popularity as the liberation party.

But now analysts are actually predicting IT will be puni shed at the polls next year and many blame for a president Jacobo ma who was one of mandela successes for that because under his watch um extensive corruption occurred there was a huge surge of hope when the current president Sierra opposer was elected. He promised to clean things up, but he's been a disappointment to many in being slow to act and putting party before country. Of course, the nc still trades on model as legacy for their own, a ecr o benefit, as that's pretty much every other political party in south africa. Or asking, what would mandela do? Justice malea, a south african author of the book, the plot to save south africa, and his view that MC is now sent as a party of, as he puts the dishonesty and corruption many.

and are they guard the in c is the antithesis of mandela, no matter how much the party attempts to benisse its name using mandela image, the public just isn't buying IT anymore.

The real test will be a general elections next year. I will be thirty years since the first democratic and numerous polls are predicting that nc will lose its majority for the first time and have to into a coalition government.

Is daily life Better thirty years after the end of apart side?

Well, it's a new one question. Many south africans still live in diop verty. Money lost to corruption could have beat the lives of millions, but ultimately all adult south africans now have the vote and can vote out their government and they equal under the law regardless of race. So in that sense, um yes, it's a resulting yes kate .

bar let in johannesburg so much.

Thank you, Steve.

And that's at first for this tuesday, december fifth. I'm Stephen skid .

and dimension Martin. Today's episode of a first was edited by Christian ative column, Andrew sussman and mega macs IT was produced by lily custos monkey corona and lenzimbi. We get engineering support from stay c. Abbott and our technical director, is that common?

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