Co-founder of the Social Democratic Political Party, Roca lives in Cuba and works for economic and political freedom.

Roca grew up the privileged son of the General Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, trained in the former USSR to be a military jet pilot, became an officer and instructor in the Cuban Air Force, studied to become an economist at the Commerce Ministry, and was seen as a future deputy minister.

Instead, he realized the inefficiency of Castro's totalitarian economy and its waste of Cuba's substantial resources. By the end of the 1980s, Roca registered his opposition to policies he considered misguided, and published articles critiquing Cuba's socioeconomic situation.

He was targeted as a dissident and suffered harassment and abuse, magnified because of his family's high position. Roca was fired from his position at the State Committee for Economic Collaboration. Nonetheless, he chose to stay in Cuba and work to change the regime rather than flee. 

In 1997, Roca and three other dissidents signed a document in defense of human rights and against political discrimination and the distortion of Cuban history, "My Homeland Belongs to Everyone.” All four were jailed under harsh but typical conditions. For five years Roca was confined to a six-by-seven-foot cell with a table for a bed.

Set free after an international outcry, he resides in Havana where he is President of the Social Democratic Political Party of Cuba, which he co-founded, and works for multiparty democracy.