He worked as a professor of Political Science at the University of the Andes, in the fields of international relations and Colombian foreign policy.

During the 1990 Colombian presidential elections he worked on the campaign of César Gaviria, who after winning, appointed him vice-minister of Foreign Affairs.

Two years later he was appointed ambassador to Venezuela, a position he arrived at in the midst of the crisis days after the first attempted coup against former president Carlos Andrés Pérez.

In 1994, Ernesto Samper appointed him chancellor, and there he had to manage the country's difficult foreign relations in the midst of the Proceso 8000.

During his time at the magazine, Pardo and his journalistic team uncovered major scandals of the Álvaro Uribe government and several of the most important news stories of the year such as Agro Ingreso Seguro [es], the relations of the brother of the former interior minister Fabio Valencia Cossio with the Medellín Cartel and the secret negotiations over the United States military bases in Colombia.