** Ambassador Herrera was recalled again in January 2011. 

Bernardo Álvarez Herrera became Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the United States on January 27, 2003.

After five years of service in Washington, on September 11, 2008, he was recalled to Caracas after Venezuela expelled the U.S. Ambassador there in solidarity with Bolivia during a diplomatic dispute with the Bush administration. Upon his return to Venezuela, he was appointed the head of his nation’s delegation to UNASUR (Union of South American Nations) to investigate ongoing threats to the Bolivian government. He was later appointed president of the Bank of ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas), an alternative trade organization created to support the social and economic development projects of its member states.

Less than a year later, on June 26, 2009, Ambassador Álvarez became the first foreign ambassador in U.S. diplomatic history to be reinstated by Washington (along with his U.S. counterpart in Caracas) as both the Chavez and Obama administrations moved to normalize relations. He then served as the Dean of the Latin American diplomatic corps in Washington, having served longer in his post than any of his regional counterparts.

Previous to his post as ambassador, he held various public positions such as Vice Minister of Hydrocarbons at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Deputy to the National Assembly, Vice Chairman of the Armed Forces Committee and Chairman of the Energy and Mines Committee, Executive Secretary of the Working Group on Political Reforms of the Presidential Commission for the Reform of the State and Chief of the Research and Development Division at the Venezuelan Institute of Foreign Trade.

In the international area he has held positions as Representative of Venezuela and Member of the Executive Committee to the U.S. Energy Council, Principal Coordinator for Venezuela in the Cooperation Agreement on Energy with the United States, and Head of the Venezuelan Delegation to the Ministerial Conferences of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

He has taught at the School of Political and Administrative studies of the Universidad Central de Venezuela and at the Superior School of the Venezuelan Air Force as well as Academic Advisor at the Institute of Higher Studies on National Defense. Ambassador Álvarez holds a degree in Political Science from the Universidad Central de Venezuela and a Master’s degree in Development Studies from the University of Sussex, England.

Ambassador Álvarez is married and has three children.

Contact Information

Embassy of Venezuela
1099 30th St., NW
Washington, DC 20007

Phone: (202) 342-2214
Fax: (202) 342-6820

Website: http://venezuela-us.org/