 Eduardo Mendoza obtained a degree in agricultural engineering from Argentina's Universidad Nacional de La Plata in 1941.Mendoza returned to Venezuela and settled on a family farm in Valles del Tuy.On the eve of 18 October 1945, he was awakened at home by a commission from the Revolutionary Governmental Junta offering him the position of Minister of Agriculture in the new government of Romulo Betancourt deposing General Isaias Medina Angarita from power for refusing to grant Venezuelans universal suffrage.