 Bolivar appointed Mendoza the governor of Mérida in May 1813, and Mendoza was appointed governor of Caracas several months later.Fleeing Venezuela again in 1814 when José Tomás Boves conquered Caracas, Mendoza moved to Trinidad, where from 1819 and 1820 he was an active political writer for the "Correo del Orinoco".In 1826, Francisco de Paula Santander appointed Mendoza as Mayor of the Department of Venezuela in the empire of Gran Colombia.