I met Canto when he was on a US tour in, I believe, the late '80s or early '90s.

I met him through the Laurel James family of Seattle, when he and other members of Ecuador's national team stayed with the Jameses during their tour. 

The connection to the James family was that youngest son, Allen, was a two-time racewalking Olympian ('92 and '96) for the United States.