Brief of Vice Admiral Mario Ivan Carrat Molina

Washington, DC jul16, 2014

Mario Ivan Carrat Molina is a retired Vice Admiral of the Venezuelan Navy,
who served as the head of presidential honor guard of former President Carlos
Andres Prez (1990-1992). On February 4, 1992, Adm. Carrat defended,
evacuated, and safeguarded the president during a military coup, in which the
infantry and armored groups besieged the Government Palace in an attempt to
topple the democratic system. Since that time, political currents opposed to
freedom and democracy in Venezuela have targeted Adm. Carrat.

More than two decades later, on January 2014, the Venezuelan regime
announced that it wished to detain Adm. Carrat upon his return to Venezuela
from the United States. This announcement followed the public release, by
Venezuelas Minister of Information, of political opposition members that
included personal information of Adm. Carrat. Such an act violates the
Venezuelan constitution.

A month later, on February 12, 2014, a fabricated audio recording was
broadcast on Venezuelan public television detailing an alleged telephone call
between Adm. Carrat and former Ambassador Fernando Gerbasi. The public
release of the fabricated audio recording was meant to serve as evidence to
accuse both Amb. Gerbasi and Adm. Carrat as perpetrators of a conspiracy to
incite political violence in Venezuela. The following day, President Nicols
Maduro personally named Adm. Carrat on national television as being directly
responsible for the protests and mass mobilizations that had erupted the day
prior.

President Maduros proclamation was immediately followed by orders to capture
and arrest Adm. Carrat, regardless of the fact that the retired Admiral had
been in the United States since December 2013. This arrest order was
supplemented by a search warrant issued by the Venezuelan Ministry of Interior
and Justice, violating Adm. Carrats private property and his right to timely
and impartial due process.

Convinced that his personal safety and security of his family was threatened,
Adm. Carrat decided to stay in the United States, where he currently resides.

After the 1992 attempted coup dtat, Adm. Carrat held several posts,
including the Director of National Defense Institute (1992-1994) and the
Defense Attach of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington D.C. (1994-1995).
During his last post, Adm. Carrat was awarded the Legion of Merit by the
President of the United States.