Victor Manuel Rocha, a US diplomat who spied for Cuba, pulled a similar maneuver

Rocha's off-the-cuff remark weeks before the 2002 Bolivian general election threatening to cut American aid to Bolivia over Evo Morales's support for the coca-growers movement has been credited with boosting Morales's Movement for Socialism party in the 2002 Bolivian general election — after that, Morales called Rocha his best "campaign manager"

Shoutout to Manuel Rocha