Jorge Valero

Early career

A graduate of the University of the Andes with a degree in history, Valero received his master's degree in Latin American studies from the University of London. He has also taught in undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the University of the Andes and the Central University of Venezuela. He was the President of the Latin American Parliament’s Social Debt Commission (Comisión de la Deuda Social del Parlamento Latinoamericano). As a longtime politician, Valero has authored numerous opinion pieces, but as an academic, has also written several academic papers and books on history.

Political office

Valero has previously served as a Deputy in the Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies. A strong backer of the Hugo Chavez government, Valero went on to serve several posts in the current government. He also appointed Ambassador to the Republic of Korea. In 1999, Valero was Venezuela's Representative on the Governing Board of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), and in 2000 he was the President of the Presidential Preparatory Commission for the OPEC Summit hosted in Caracas that year. Valero currently serves as Deputy Foreign Minister for North America and Multilateral Affairs and also as the Permanent Representative for Venezuela to the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS).

As one of the most prominent spokesmen for the Chavez government to the international community, Valero often makes headlines for his stridently antagonistic comments about the United States and its allies, for example by commonly referring to the United States as an "empire," recently accusing the United States of human rights abuses and genocide for its embargo of Cuba, and also during the 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis accused the government of Colombia of state terrorism and genocide for its long armed conflict with the FARC rebels.