He has been a union leader for many labor union and in many positions among these General Secretary of the
Central Union of Workers () between 1981 and 1990. He later ran for congressman and was elected to become part of the
Constituent Assembly of Colombia that created the
Colombian Constitution of 1991. He also served as Vice President of the
Patriotic Union Party. During the government of President
Andrés Pastrana Arango Garzon was appointed
Ministry of Labour and Social Protection from 2000 until 2002. He was one of the ministers of Pastrana's administration with a popular positive image. After serving as minister he was proposed running for president but he declined. Garzon then participated as member of the facilitating Commission for the Humanitarian Accord with the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrilla group (FARC). He then resigned from the commission to postulate his name for
Governor of
Valle del Cauca Department. He was elected in 2003 with 60.69% of the votes and winning over Carlos Holmes Trujillo and Carlos José Holguín, this last candidate son of former senator
Carlos Holguín Sardi. During his administration as Governor of Valle del Cauca in 2006, he was criticized for a conflict that surged between a CISA S.A. Constructing Consortium in charge of widening and repairing the highway
Cali–
Candelaria but which was never started and CISA S.A. sued the Valle del Cauca Department. Garzon and his cabinet called for a hunger strike to press for the courts for an outcome favorable for the department. In June 2007 Garzon accompanied President
Álvaro Uribe Vélez as part of the presidential delegation that traveled to
Washington, D.C. pursuing the approval by the
United States Congress of the
Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement between Colombia and the United States. Senador Jorge Enrique Robledo of the
Alternative Democratic Pole party and one of the strongest critics of the trade agreement criticized Garzon and mentioned that Garzon had never been part of the Alternative Democratic Pole party nor he had been affiliated to the parties that formed the alliance
Independent Democratic Pole or Democratic Alternative. In 2014, Garzón was offered the post of
Ambassador to
Brazil, but rejected it on the grounds that his
German Shepherd dog would not be able to adapt to the Brazilian climate. ==Cancer==