Context of 'April 11, 2001: Venezuelan Coup Plotter in Washington'

Air Force Colonel Pedro Soto, on a visit to Washington, attends a House committee hearing in which Otto J. Reich, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, is testifying. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) introduces Soto as a “great patriot.” [Washington Post, 4/21/2002, pp. A01]

The White House appoints Otto Juan Reich as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. [US Department of State, 1/11/2002] His nomination will never be approved by the Senate. [Knight Ridder, 1/9/2003]

Otto Juan Reich is named US special envoy to the Western Hemisphere. He had previously served as acting assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs (see January 11, 2002), but never received a confirmation from the Senate. [White House, 11/25/2002; US Department of State, 1/9/2003]

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) defends her support for the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK) (see October 2002), a militant Iranian opposition group that has been included in the US State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations since 1997 (see 1997). “This group loves the United States” and they are “assisting us in the war on terrorism; they’re pro-US,” she says. “This group has not been fighting against the US. It’s simply not true.” Regarding the group’s past history, which has included lethal attacks against US citizens, collusion with Saddam Hussein, and terrorist attacks against Iran, she says that they are “past history,” asserting that they have “no bearing on what is going on right now in the field.” Ros-Lehtinen further says that there is “wide support” in Congress for the group and that the MEK will be “one of the leading groups in establishing a secular government in Iran.” Ros-Lehtinen currently chairs the House International Relations Committee’s Central Asia and Middle East Subcommittee. [Hill, 4/8/2003]