In the 1940s Arango Cano became consul for Colombia in São Paulo, Brazil[4] and Undersecretary of International Relations.[3][4]
Arango Cano has written more than fifty books of which 40 are published. His first two books were Inmigración para Colombia, published in 1951, and Inmigración y Colonización en la Gran Colombia in 1953.[3][4]
In 1965 Arango published his book Mitos, leyendas y dioses chibchas, about the myths, legends and deities of the Muisca.[5] He also wrote about the Quimbaya, Calima and other indigenous groups, not only of Colombia, but also about the Aztec and Incas. Arango published about the Eje Cafetero, the coffee region in central Colombia where he was born.
In the 1970s, Arango Cano followed his father and became an archaeologist.[3][4] In 1974 his work Las esmeraldas sagradas: el tesoro de Furatena about Furatena, mythological figure for the Muzo people was published.
On May 23, 1980, Arango Cano together with other historians founded the Academia de Historia del Quindío.[1]
Jesús Arango Cano has published mainly in Spanish and also in English and German.[6]
Arango Cano died in Armenia, Quindío, on January 9, 2015, at age 99.