IN Havana, Dr. Eduardo Bernabé Ordaz Ducungé has died at the age of 84 years, the result of chronic kidney failure. He was born in Bauta in Havana province on October 13, 1921 and became director of the Psychiatric Hospital of Havana.

His life as a student began in this area, but he alternated his activities with a variety of unrelated jobs: newspaper seller, shoeshine boy, grocery store attendant and messenger, among others.

He joined the social and revolutionary struggle in 1949 and took part in the student protests against the first Batista government. He was president of the high school in Marianao and a member of the executive committee of the Federation of Cuban Institutes. He was also a delegate to the conferences organized by this organization.

In 1942, he entered the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Havana, from where he graduated as a doctor in 1951. He was president of the Association of Medical Students and a member of the Federation of University Students (FEU).

In 1952, he joined various revolutionary organizations responsible for attacks and sabotage. He was also a member of the commission responsible for the thwarted attack on the Columbia military base and the repair of weapons. In January 1958, he joined the guerrilla struggle and subsequently returned to Havana with the aim of organizing a hospital for underground fighters in the city until the general strike took place in April of that year. He was imprisoned on 13 different occasions by the dictatorship’s repressive forces.

Because of his involvement in the underground movement and the need for medical personnel in the Sierra Maestra, he joined the Rebel Army once again as a doctor for the 1st José Martí Column and reached the rank of captain. He took part in various battles and undertook the task of equipping various homes and other buildings as field hospitals to attend to the wounded.

Because of his merits as a combatant, on January 1, 1959 he was promoted to the rank of Commander of the Rebel Army, later withdrawing from this role and taking responsibility for the directorship of a hospital base providing medical services to the Western Army. He was subsequently appointed as the director of Havana’s Psychiatric Hospital, a role which he carried out for over four decades with tremendously successful results.

Ordaz Ducungé was a member of the Cuban Society for Psychiatry and Psychology, as well as other prestigious international organizations.

He a member of delegations to various events, both at home and abroad and on each occasion, he emphasized the Revolution’s achievements in the field of psychiatry.

He was a founding member of the Party and a deputy in the National Assembly from its inception in 1976 until the end of the 5th Legislature in 2003. He was also the president of the Parliamentary Group for Peace.

Likewise, he was also the elected delegate of the Provincial Assembly of People’s Power in the City of Havana.