 Later he became director of the "Colegio Normal Juan Montalvo" teacher training college in Quito, National Director of Education and Sub-director of the National Planning and Economic Co-ordination Committee ("Junta Nacional de Planificación y Coordinador General Económico"), he continued to lecture to university students until the last day of his life.He died suddenly of a heart attack after climbing 8 flights of stairs to deliver a lecture, owing to a broken elevator.His principal work is The Ecuadorian Indians ("Los Indios Ecuatorianos" 1988), as well as a great number of articles in anthropological journals.