Born in
Barquisimeto,
Lara, he won his first international medal at the 2004 South American Under-23 Championships held in his hometown, where he took the
5000 metres bronze medal. He ran in the
1500 metres at the
2005 Bolivarian Games and set a personal best of 3:46.32 minutes, finishing in fourth place. The 2006 season saw him establish himself as a senior athlete. He was third in the
800 metres at the
2006 Ibero-American Championships, won his first national title over 1500 m, and represented Venezuela at the
2006 Central American and Caribbean Games. At the Games he ran two personal bests: 1:48.21 min for fifth in the 800 m and 3:44.27 min for fourth in the 1500 m. He came fifth in the 800 m in his senior continental debut at the
2006 South American Championships in Athletics. At the
2007 South American Championships in Athletics he won his first medal on the continental stage, securing the bronze medal behind
Byron Piedra and
Leandro de Oliveira. Villanueva was chosen to run for his nation at the
2007 Pan American Games and came sixth in the 1500 m with a personal best of 3:41.74 min and ended the competition by running an 800 m best of 1:48.05 min in the heats of that event. He gained selection for the Venezuelan team at the
2007 World Championships in Athletics held the following month and he improved his 800 m best further by running a time of 1:46.33 min in the heats. In 2008 Villanueva made his global indoor debut at the
2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships and also ran at the Olympics for the first time, competing in the heats of the 800 m at the
2008 Beijing Games. At the
World Military Track and Field Championships in June 2009, he came fourth in the 1500 m. Villanueva won a consecutive 1500 m bronze at the
2009 South American Championships in Athletics, but was the
gold medallist in the event at the
2009 CAC Championships. He was selected to run the 800 m at the
2009 World Championships in Athletics (although he had focused on the longer distance regionally) and was eliminated in the first round. He broke José López's 14-year-old
Venezuelan record in the 1500 m with a run of 3:38.96 min in
Barakaldo. He focused more on the 1500 m in 2011 and spent much of the season based in Spain with his coach Mariano Gonzalo. Villanueva improved his 1500 m national record to 3:38.29 minutes at a meeting in
Barcelona in July 2011 and gained selection for the
2011 World Championships in Athletics in
Daegu, South Korea. At the competition, he qualified for the 1500 m final by running a personal best of 3:36.96 min in the semi-finals. In the final he finished in eighth place, which was the best ever performance by a Venezuelan track runner at the world championships (improving upon
William Wuycke's run in 1987). ==Personal bests==