Pedrito Calvo returns to Havana; Mayito Rivera greets him at the airport

Foto: Wikimedia Commons / WOMEX – Jacob Crawfurd (CC BY 2.0) — Mayito Rivera

September 29, 2026

Cuban singer Pedrito Calvo returned to Havana on Monday, September 28, 2026, after recovering from the medical emergency that kept him hospitalized in Panama, and was welcomed at José Martí International Airport by fellow vocalist Mayito Rivera, according to Periódico Cubano, citing a video shared on Los Van Van's page.

The reunion — with hugs, singing and dancing — came a day after the 84-year-old artist was discharged in Panama City. Calvo had suffered a health episode on Friday, September 25, during a layover at Tocumen International Airport while traveling from Cuba to Cali, Colombia.

Through Pedrito Calvo Jr., the family said follow-up tests ruled out lasting cerebrovascular damage and linked the episode to a prior intestinal virus, while Cuba's Institute of Music described it as a cerebrovascular accident. Both accounts agree he was discharged and continues to recover.

Rivera accompanied the images with a tribute to "the Horse of Los Van Van forever." Pedrito Calvo spent nearly three decades as one of the signature voices of Juan Formell's orchestra and has led his own band, Pedrito Calvo y La Justicia, since 2002.

Fuente: Periódico Cubano; Cuban Institute of Music / ACN

Pedro Calvo Rojas

Arts, Music, Singer, Actor, Composer, Orchestra director, Society

Popular Cuban singer who for several years was a member of the orchestra Los Van Van, today Director of his own group Pedrito Calvo y la Nueva Justicia. Pedrito Calvo, or simply Pedrito, is a charismatic singer born in Guanabacoa who started in 1957 in an amateur television program; but it is not until the 1960s that he began his professional career in his father's orchestra. From this moment on, other groups had him in their ranks: "La Riviera", "Los Jóvenes del filin", "La orquesta de Julio Valdés", until he arrived at "Juan Formell y Los Van Van", where he remained for around 30 years.