Context of 'Before February 18, 2002: Prominent Venezuelan Air Force Officer Calls for President Chavez’s Resignation'

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]

Venezuelan Rear Admiral Carlos Molina, along with a group of dissident officers led by Air Force Colonel Pedro Soto begin planning the overthrow of President Hugo Chavez. At some point before the April 11 coup, he leaves the group to join a more powerful faction of senior navy and national guard officers. [Washington Post, 4/21/2002, pp. A01]

Venezuelan Air Force Colonel Pedro Soto makes a public statement calling on President Hugo Chavez to resign. [Washington Post, 4/21/2002, pp. A01] It is later learned that Soto receives $100,000 from a bank in Miami for this denouncement (see Between Late March and Early April 2002).

Venezuelan Rear Admiral Carlos Molina, Chavez’s former national security adviser, appears on television to demand Chavez’s resignation. Molina is a well known figure and according to the Washington Post, “even the president’s supporters interpreted the break as an alarming sign of the depth of opposition to Chavez… .” [Washington Post, 4/21/2002, pp. A01] It is later learned that Molina receives $100,000 from a bank in Miami for this denouncement (see Between Late March and Early April 2002).

Two days after Rear Admiral Carlos Molina calls for Chavez’s resignation (see February 18, 2002), two staff members of the International Republican Institute, Michael Ferber and Elizabeth Winger Echeverri, approach Molina. Recalling the encounter, Molina later tells the Washington Post: “They wanted to talk about human rights, democracy, their operation in Washington. I can’t remember what else we discussed.” [Washington Post, 4/21/2002, pp. A01]

Venezuelan Vice Admiral Carlos Molina and Air Force Colonel Pedro Soto each receive $100,000 from a Miami bank account for denouncing Chavez (see February 18, 2002). [Washington Post, 4/18/2002, pp. A17]