Professor and Doctor of Sciences Armando Caballero López Passed Away, Distinguished Professional of Cuban Medicine

May 5, 2025

With deep sorrow, the news was reported on Sunday, May 4, of the death of doctor Armando Caballero López, an exceptional physician and an admirable human being. His legacy of science, dedication and love for life will always guide the work of Health in Cuba.

The professor was an example of dedication and commitment to revolutionary medicine and from an early age, in his native Santa Clara, he demonstrated the human qualities that would later allow him to become a prominent scientist and researcher.

Doctor Caballero was born on September 7, 1947 in a humble family and his childhood was characterized by economic instability and hard work. After the triumph of the Revolution, he completed pre-university studies, becoming involved with the Association of Rebel Youth, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), and the Literacy Campaign, specifically in the town of Seibabo.

He was also a member of the Union of Secondary Students, captain of the baseball team of the "Osvaldo Herrera" Pre-University Institute and a volunteer in the Provincial Baseball Commission of Las Villas.

His beginnings in medicine started during Mandatory Military Service, belonging to the Epidemiological Group of the Central Army, where he took the course "Chemistry of War and Weapons of Mass Extermination".

During this period he met doctor Nicolás Monsón Domínguez, whom Caballero himself named as his second father, and who helped him become a physician.

Between 1967 and 1974 he studied Medicine, first at the Institute of Basic and Preclinical Sciences of the University of Havana and later at the Faculty of Medicine of the Central University of Las Villas. He was a teaching assistant in the subject of Human Anatomy and in 1967 he was elected the first president of the University Student Federation (FEU) at his institution of higher education.

In keeping with his results, he was appointed directly by the National Committee of the Union of Communist Youth (UJC) as a member of that organization and named responsible for Study and Work of the Faculty of Medicine.

In 1971 he was organizer of the First Scientific Meeting of Medical Students held in Santa Clara and participated in congresses in Holguín, Camagüey and Havana. In 1972 he was elected General Secretary of the UJC Committee of his center and member of the University Committee of the UJC, a responsibility for which he attended in 1973, as a delegate, the X World Festival of Youth and Students in Berlin.

Due to the country's needs, given the shortage of qualified personnel in Anesthesiology and Resuscitation, he assumed the task of specializing in that area in the 1970s.

In 1977 he was sent to France to take a course in medical resuscitation at the "Henri Mondor" Hospital in Paris and another course on Mobile Emergency and Resuscitation Services. During his stay in that country, he was named General Secretary of the PCC nucleus among Cuban scholarship holders from different fields who studied there. Upon completion, obtaining the highest score in the closing evaluation, he received the honorary title of "Foreign Assistant of the Hospitals of Paris" given by the French government.

Upon returning from France in 1979, he was appointed Head of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the "Celestino Hernández Robau" Hospital and appointed Head of the Provincial Group of Anesthesiology and Resuscitation.

He fulfilled an internationalist mission in Angola, where he spent 2 years working in the intensive care ward and serving as Head of the Anesthesia Department of the Central Military Hospital in Luanda.

In 1983 he was appointed Head of the Provincial Group of Intensive Medicine and Emergency and in 1986, the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap) appointed him as a Member of the National Commission of Intensive Care.

Awarded the Annual Prize for Criticism of Medical Scientific Works of 1990 by the Academy of Sciences of Cuba, in 1989 he published the first edition of the book "Intensive Therapy" with 44 collaborators in his field.

From 1999 to 2002 he served as First Vice-Rector of the University of Medical Sciences of Villa Clara, without losing his connection to the clinical area.

On October 21, 2008 he was appointed Honorary Member of the Cuban Society of Anesthesiology and Resuscitation and in 2009 he published the second edition of the book "Intensive Therapy" with 125 collaborators from 22 specialties, awarded the Grand Annual Prize for Health of Cuba in 2011.

Doctor Caballero, that same year on March 3, was recognized as Honorary Member of the Cuban Society of Intensive Medicine and Emergency.

In 2010 he discussed his Doctoral Thesis on "Topics of Mechanical Ventilation", where the main contributions and scientific novelties created by his research work appear.

On July 15, 2013 he received the distinction of Illustrious Son of the City on the 324th anniversary of the city of Santa Clara.

No less important were, in 2020, the honors obtained after the publication of the third edition of the book "Intensive Therapy", with 175 collaborators from 25 specialties, including 18 foreigners from 9 countries and 3 continents. That same year he was appointed Head of the Expert Committee on covid-19, working as an advisor to the doctors who worked in the red zone, mainly in the Military Hospital "Comandante Manuel Fajardo Rivero" of Santa Clara.

In the period between 2020 and 2021, together with 16 other collaborators from the Center for Molecular Immunology (CIM) in Havana, the "Arnaldo Milian Castro" Hospital in Villa Clara and the "Manuel Fajardo Rivero" Hospital in Villa Clara, he conducted research on the repositioning of the Cuban monoclonal antibody Itolizumab in the treatment of patients with covid-19, which received the National Prize for Innovation and Technology 2021 and the Prize from the Academy of Sciences of Cuba 2022.

On April 1, 2021 the Provincial Government of Villa Clara appointed him Distinguished Personality of the Science Sector.

At the end of 2022 he retired as head of the Intensive Medicine service of the "Arnaldo Milián" Hospital, a position he held for more than 40 years and on January 15, 2022 he was appointed Honorary Member of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba for his extensive career as a scientist and researcher.

Throughout his life as a professional and scientist, Professor Armando Caballero López received 14 advanced training courses and was a Specialist of 1st and 2nd Degree in Anesthesiology and Resuscitation and 2nd Degree in Intensive Medicine and Emergencies. He taught 28 courses and numerous editions as a way to transfer his legacy and knowledge to new generations of physicians and conducted more than 100 scientific research projects, most of which were published in national and international journals and conferences. He was also advisor to 23 degree theses and received numerous decorations, among which stand out National Vanguard of the National Union of Health Workers in 1980 and 1990; "Piti Fajardo" Medal for 25 years in 1989 and for 40 years in 2014, "Lázaro Peña" Medal of II Degree in 1998 and Medal for Cuban Education in 2015.

His life, marked by service to the Revolution and to Public Health, is an example of how passion for science and human empathy can transform a country.

Today, Cuba mourns a hero in a white coat. But his light, as José Martí wrote, will continue to guide: in every therapy saved, in every student inspired and in every page of his immortal "Intensive Therapy". Rest in peace, beloved Knight of revolutionary medicine.