Career
Rubio received a Doctorate in Education from the Central University of Ecuador, and then distinguished himself as an anthropologist and historian of the indigenista school. The Indigenistas were a radical group of intellectuals who placed the indigenous pre-Columbian heritage of Latin America on an equal footing to that of the Spanish conquistador heritage. Rubio joined the Ecuadorian Socialist Party and carried out diplomatic service in Mexico and other parts of Central America.
This enabled him to establish many contacts with indigenistas in other countries and established his international reputation in the field
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.