Doctor Love (Luis Hernán Rodrigo de las Casas) Character Analysis in A Brief History of Seven Killings

Doctor Love is a counterrevolutionary Cuban employed as a CIA consultant. He specializes in explosions, planting bombs on airplanes and in the Kingston ghetto. Aside from his strong opposition to the Cuban regime, Doctor Love is characterized as having no real ideological commitments. Although they are allies throughout most of the novel, Josey Wales accuses him of answering “to whoever paying the biggest cheque.” In the same scene, Doctor Love kills Josey by setting fire to his prison cell, following orders of the Medellín cartel. However, he also gives Josey a pill to knock him unconscious before, a surprisingly merciful gesture that arguably speaks to Doctor Love’s admiration of Josey.

Doctor Love (Luis Hernán Rodrigo de las Casas) Character Timeline in A Brief History of Seven Killings

The timeline below shows where the character Doctor Love (Luis Hernán Rodrigo de las Casas) appears in A Brief History of Seven Killings. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Politics, Power, and Corruption Theme Icon

Josey has an appointment with Doctor Love , a Cuban man. Both Peter Nasser and Louis Johnson have tried to control Josey’s... (full context)

Josey met Doctor Love at Kingston Harbor. Doctor Love told Josey to duck, and shortly after a series of... (full context)

...picks up the book Weeper is reading: it is Bertrand Russell’s The Problems of Philosophy. Doctor Love tells Josey that America needs a new “Santa Claus” to take a gift from Bogotá,... (full context)

Barry didn’t realize that Doctor Love was in Jamaica. Barry is at the American embassy, in the process of revoking the... (full context)

Jamaican Culture and Identity Theme Icon

...Nasser warned everyone that Michael Manley would turn Jamaica communist, and the country would resemble Doctor Love ’s stories from Cuba. (full context)

Back in January, Josey went into Trench Town with Doctor Love and one other man. Papa-Lo warned Josey he was crazy to be going in with... (full context)

On May 19, Josey and Doctor Love took Papa-Lo to watch them set off an explosion in the Orange Lane tenement. From... (full context)

Barry finds Louis Johnson at a bar with Doctor Love . They leave almost immediately, however, and Barry quickly gets in the car to follow... (full context)

Doctor Love is back in Jamaica; Barry presumes he is likely trying to “finish what he couldn’t... (full context)

...rather than real peace. Josey has just sent Weeper to Miami to spend time with Doctor Love . Doctor Love has explained that Medellín will want to keep testing Josey, which Josey... (full context)

...not have killed the Singer, he at least made him seem mortal again. Josey tells Doctor Love that he is done being tested. After the shooting at the Singer’s house, an informer... (full context)

...new American called Mr. Clark replaced him. In April 1978 Josey met Mr. Clark and Doctor Love at Morgan’s Harbor, “the hotel for white people over in Port Royal.” Josey pretended to... (full context)

...he would ignore Josey’s many trips to Miami and Costa Rica. Mr. Clark left, and Doctor Love and Josey discussed a shipment of guns that recently arrived. (full context)

Masculinity, Sexuality, and Homophobia Theme Icon

...him again at gunpoint. Griselda has instructed him to kill a Jamaican who works with Doctor Love . This man tried to establish Jamaica as the point of connection between Colombia and... (full context)

...in prison; at the end of the chapter, it is revealed that the narrator is Doctor Love . (full context)

In prison, Doctor Love asks Josey if he ever thinks about the past, and Josey replies: “No. You know... (full context)

Doctor Love tells Josey he is the smartest man he’s ever known. Josey asks if “this family... (full context)

Josey is pacing inside his cell, and Doctor Love wonders if he’s about to pull out a shank. Josey notes that he’s been terrorizing... (full context)

Doctor Love looks around the prison cell and observes that it’s falling apart. Josey tells him that... (full context)

Josey has thrown his mattress at Doctor Love and is now trying to wrench the sink out of the prison cell wall. He... (full context)

Doctor Love tells Josey not to give up the information he’s planning on giving. Josey says his... (full context)

Doctor Love goes to leave, and as he does so he gives Josey some pills. He explains... (full context)