Jose Joaquin Avila (born 1929 in Camuy, Puerto Rico), better known as Yiye Avila, is a world famous evangelist and former Mr. Universe.

Avila went to college at the Universidad Interamericana De Puerto Rico 's San German branch, to study to become a teacher, and one of the requisites was to take a class about the Bible.

He returned to Camuy after graduating and began teaching at the high school level, but he also began playing baseball baseball in the double A level and winning Mr. Puerto Rico as a bodybuilder in 1952. He would later win the title of Mr. Universe.

While training for the Olympic Games of 1956, Avila suffered terrible pain and was diagnosed with chronic arthritis by his doctors. This prevented him from participating in any further sporting events. The pain became a very big hurdle for Avila, and he started praying. After watching a tv show conducted by a famous preacher, Avila became a born-again Christian.

In 1967 Avila retired from the magistery after 21 years as a teacher and began to concentrate on his work as a Christian instead. He became a preacher, and in 1972, he formed his Escuadron Relampago Cristo Viene in a small room in his house.

Eventually his ministry grew too large for that small room and a building facility had to be built somewhere else in Camuy to accommodate all of the attending public.

Avila's preaching network eventually kept on growing and now has reached all of Latin America as well as Spain and the United States.

Nowadays, Avila is the head of a television channel in Puerto Rico, named Cadena Del Milagro (Miracle Network). Reportedly, it reaches all of Puerto Rico and some nearby countries in the Caribbean.

See also

• List of famous Puerto Ricans