He was formerly the head of the social communication office of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration, a position which carried a ministerial rank.

He left SeCom and lost the rank of minister, assuming the position as Chief of the Center for Strategic Affairs (Núcleo de Assuntos Estratégicos, NAE).

Out of office, his house came under malicious attacks and came to be wrongly included in the AP 470 (the Mensalão Scandal criminal lawsuit) by the attorney General Antonio Fernando de Souza - who would come to win a Brasil Telecom mega contract, controlled by Daniel Dantas and which entered into the creation of Oi-Telemar.

Later he was acquitted from all accusations in the AP 470 criminal lawsuit, in a verdict from the Supreme Federal Court decided in 2012, due to lack of evidence from his role in the scandal.

Ex-Minister of the Supreme Federal Court José Dirceu later commented that Gushiken's indictment was "one of the great injustices of the [Mensalão scandal]" and "with no regard for the presumption of innocence".

[citation needed] Gushiken died on 13 September 2013, at the age of 63 whilst admitted to Hospital Sírio-Libanês in critical condition, due to gastric cancer from which he had suffered since 2002.