Carta Abierta al Sr. Juan José Caldera

MARIO IVÁN CARRATÚ MOLINA

Military Career Summary (1965-1995)

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Vice admiral (R) in the Venezuelan Navy (1965-1995), awarded with the Legion of Merit by U.S. President William J. Clinton for “exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements, as the defense attaché of Venezuela in Washington” (D.C.-USA 1995). Awarded with the Órden de El Libertador en el grado de Caballero by President Carlos Andres Perez for defending the Constitution of Venezuela and being the flag officer responsible for saving President Perez's life during Hugo Chavez's attempted coup d'état (Ccs-Vzla 1992). Only Venezuelan Commander qualified for naval war by the U.S. Navy (GTMO-1986).

• Senior naval flag officer with thirty (30) years of service and specializations in Homeland Security, Hemispheric Security and Defense Governance and Management.

• Flag officer with eighteen (18) years of experience in the Venezuelan naval fleet, with military and weapons training in Venezuela, Italy and the United States of America.  

• Superintendent of the Venezuelan Naval Academy (1989-1990)

• Head of President Carlos Andres Perez’s Presidential Honor Guard (1990-1992) 

  Military Unit responsible for the security of the President, the First Family and foreign dignitaries.

• Director of the Institute for Advanced National Defense Studies (1992-1994)

• Defense Attaché of Venezuela in Washington, D.C.- USA (1994-1995)

• Military strategist, and political and military analyst for fourty (40) years.

• Specializations: 

• Naval Command, Italian Navy TA-IT (1970-1972)

• Naval General Staff Course, Italy LI-IT (1971-1972)

• Operations Research/Systems Analysis (Master, Bachellor), U.S. Navy Postgraduate School CA-USA (1978-1982) 

• Command, Control and Communications (C3) Strategy, U.S. Navy Postgraduate School CA-USA (1982)

• Naval Comand and General Staff Course, Venezuela (1983-1984)

• Management of Top Secret Military Security Keys: Venezuelan Navy and the Perez administration 

  CCS-VZLA (1988-1992) 

• Advanced Management, Institute for Advanced Administrative Studies (IESA)

  CCS-VZLA (1995-1996) 

• Defense Management, U.S. National Defense University (2005) 

• Doctoral studies in Political Science, Universidad Simón Bolívar and Universidad Central de Venezuela, CCS -VZLA  (2006-2013)

Exiled in the United States since 2014. Accused of treason against Venezuela by Nicolas Maduro, who issued orders for my capture and arrest. 

ATTACHMENT

Legion of Merit and Citation to accompany the award.