 President Samper then appointed him as Presidential Advisor to the Caribbean Region of Colombia until 1997 when he was then appointed as Minister of Environment in which he served until the end of the Pastrana administration.In 1999 Verano was elected by the Liberal Party as Secretary General of the Colombian Liberal Party and later reelected in 2001.During his four years as Secretary General, Verano participated in the association of the party with the Socialist International, he also modernized and pushed forward the internal democratization of the party after the Liberal Constitution of 2000–2003 which concludes with internal elections.