He was a member of the 1999 Constituent Assembly of Venezuela which drew up the 1999 Constitution of Venezuela. He was the Venezuelan Ambassador to Brazil in 2002, and Ambassador to Mexico from May to November 2005, until the Mexico and Venezuela diplomatic crisis saw him recalled to Caracas. From November 2003 to December 2004 he was the president of the state-run Venezolana de Televisión. In 2006 he was named deputy Foreign Minister for Asia, the Middle East and Oceania; he resigned in 2007 over disagreements regarding the 2007 constitutional referendum.