The old Pueyo Avenue begins its journey with an obelisk as a tribute to the Mambises who shed their generous blood for the Independence of Cuba. Beautiful and necessary gesture, in remembrance of those who, even in their youth, in their struggle for an ownerless homeland, were assassinated by the Spanish metropolis.

When in 1944 it was decided to remodel the avenue, the City Council began to receive proposals for names. The Association for the Defense of Veterans requested in writing to the Municipal Chamber that it be called “Avenue of Heroes” just because of the presence of the obelisk.

The name of Ignacio Agramonte was also proposed

Then, Dr. Emilio L. Luaces, given the length of the matter regarding the name of the Avenue, formerly Pueyo, also known as Road to the Airport, wrote to the newspaper El Camagüeyano and made his proposal public: Calling it Avenida Ignacio Agramonte, argued that the transcendence of the virtues of the person who starred in the Sanguily Rescue, allows that in addition to the park that bears his name, the Avenue can also evoke his memory.

The Consistory voted for Carlos J. Finlay

The previous proposal opened a debate in the press, and consequently Dr. Francisco Martínez de la Cruz together with Socrates Arteaga among others, founded the name of the Camagüey and universal scientist Dr. Carlos J. Finlay. The conference that Martínez de la Cruz gave was so excellently justified that the Town Council leaned on the name of Finlay, and noted:

Finlay inherited from the Scotsman the intensity and ardor in the pursuit of a goal, as well as the logical discipline and the fondness for theorizing about abstruse problems and arguing about them, without losing, even in the midst of the greatest confusion, the golden thread of practical application. Of the French he had the kindness, the courtesy; the living imagination and the love of glory which, although not on the surface, has undoubtedly served as a stimulus to the Scotsman; And it does not appear on the surface, nor do other aggressive qualities touch arrogance, nor do they detract in any way to his character because he conceals all his most exquisite modesty, which I am pleased to believe was lent to him by our Creole atmosphere of that time, together with intense love, to the Cuban Homeland ”.

Present-day

Finlay Avenue has been a witness in great events in the town: parades, diplomatic visits and also the Vatican. Join the city with the universe through the Airport.

It is a portal to all the cardinal points of the Island, to high-rise buildings, unique style houses, a roundabout with a sculpture, a wide-ranging hospital, factories… until reaching the air terminal. It is impressive to watch the aircraft follow the same course of the avenue in the air.

At dusk, the lights, like modern fireflies, give it a special halo.

Bibliography

El Camagüeyano newspaper 1944.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García