to maintain his largely inefficient and corrupt administrations. There is debate about whether his rule can correctly be labelled as populist. Following Agustin Cueva, several authors have argued that in the midst of a hegemonic crisis Velasco rose to power on the votes of the coastal sub-proletariat, peasants who had migrated to urban centres as the cacao industry dwindled. The charismatic figure of Velasco, according to this view, emotionally captured the masses with promises of redemption. Others, among them Rafael Quintero, argue that the entrenched landowning elite was instrumental for Velasco's victory (at least in the 1930s), as the Coastal elite had been weakened by the end of the cacao boom. Works Velasco Ibarra always had a special preoccupation with infrastructure. Many public works, including roads, hospitals, and bridges, were constructed during Velasco Ibarra's presidencies. He was the initiator of institutions such as the Supreme Electoral Tribunalián and Guamote. He decreed the law of weekly days off for workers, ordered the construction of irrigation canals, educational infrastructure, aircraft fields, and highways. Death Velasco Ibarra's wife, Corina Parral de Velasco Ibarra died in Buenos Aires after falling from a bus. This precipitated the death of Velasco Ibarra, who said on his return to Ecuador, "I come to meditate and to die." He died in Quito, on 30 March 1979. References Further reading De la Torre, Carlos. "Velasco Ibarra and ‘La Revolución Gloriosa’: The Social Production of a Populist Leader in Ecuador in the 1940s." Journal of Latin American Studies 26.3 (1994): 683-711. De la Torre, Carlos. "Populism and democracy: political discourses and cultures in contemporary Ecuador." Latin American Perspectives 24.3 (1997): 12-24. online Maier, Georg. "Presidential Succession in Ecuador, 1830-1970." Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 13#3-4 (1971): 475-509. Pyne, Peter. "Presidential Caesarism in Latin America: Myth or Reality? A Case Study of the Ecuadorian Executive during the Presidency of José María Velasco Ibarra, 1960-1961." Comparative Politics (1977) 9#3: 281-304. online 1893 births 1979 deaths People from Quito Ecuadorian people of Spanish descent Presidents of Ecuador Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies of Ecuador Ecuadorian columnists Leaders ousted by a coup CIA activities in the Americas World War II political leaders Grand Crosses Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany