José Joaquín Ávila Portalatín, better known as Yiye Ávila, was a Puerto RicanPentecostalEvangelist and writer of Sephardi origins. His preaching and messages were characterized in proclaiming that the coming of Christ is imminent. He is considered one of the most influential Protestant preachers of the Spanish language. He was also the second runner-up for Mr. North America in 1953.
Early life
His family were Jewish Sephardic who converted to Christianity, Yiye Ávila Portalatín was born in Camuy, Puerto Rico. His parents were both schoolteachers, and he eventually followed in their footsteps. Surprisingly, he enrolled at Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico in San Germán, with plans to study medicine. There he graduated with a bachelor's degree in natural sciences and completed his pre-medical studies. In spite of this success, he chose to return to his hometown of Camuy and teach chemistry and biology at the local high school, where he taught for the next 22 years. Eventually a change of careers would come about that would take him to over 100 countries.
Sporting life
He began playing baseball in the Double A level and training as a weight lifter. In 1952, he competed and won the Mr. Puerto Rico bodybuilding contest, and would go on to become the second runner-up for the title of Mr. North America in 1953. While training for the summer Olympic Games of 1956, Ávila experienced terrible pain in parts of his body and, after various tests, was diagnosed with chronic arthritis by his doctors. This prevented him from participating in the Olympics or in any other future sporting event. The pain was so intense that Ávila suffered limited mobility and could not even perform everyday chores. He turned to Christianity and began praying, seeking divine intervention for his situation. According to him, he received a divine revelation through the reading and study of the Christian Bible, where he received healing from Jesus Christ. From that time on, he dedicated himself to ministry.
Evangelism
Although Yiye Ávila was always deeply interested in Christianity, he reportedly was convinced to dedicate all his life and work to evangelism after watching a Christian television show hosted by Oral Roberts, an American televangelist in the early 1960s. In 1967, Ávila retired after 22 years as a teacher and began to concentrate on Christian work instead. He became a full-time preacher and, in 1972, he invited several friends, family, and neighbors to form the Escuadron Relampago Cristo Viene, which congregated in a small room in his house to discuss the Bible, salvation, Christianity, and the Apocalypse. Eventually, his ministry and followers increased dramatically, and a new three story building near the PR # 2 state road was built to accommodate the attending public. His preaching was followed by various church groups and many Latin American evangelists invited him to preach to their local communities and churches. This demand prompted Yiye to create a radio program and, eventually, a television network called Cadena Del Milagro so that his preaching could reach those same communities that he visited. The network and his ministry has grown considerably over the years, expanding to magazines, books, audio tapes, videos and televised scheduled programming. The three story building which he and his close followers originally built now serves as the headquarters for Yiye's ministry and his television network. Beginning in the 1970s, Yiye became a laborious evangelist, visiting almost all Latin American countries, many North American cities, and parts of Europe. He appeared on a daily morning telecast preaching selected verses from the Bible and receiving prayer petitions from viewers. He also appeared every Saturday night on the network's flagship show, Campaña Por TV, where he preached selected verses of the New Testament, presented Christian music groups, and invited viewers to convert to Christianity. In his shows he encouraged viewers to congregate by going to Christian churches and to form Christian groups to discuss the Bible and current events. These shows and many other programs are broadcast in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, and are transmitted via satellite to Latin America, the continental United States and certain parts of Europe. In addition to his television shows and public preaching, Yiye Ávila was a prolific writer, publishing numerous works throughout his ministry years. Many of his public preachings have been recorded and published on tapes and compact discs.
Yiye Ávila was married to Carmen Delia Talavera and had three daughters: Noemí, Doris Myrna, and Carmen Ilia. In 1989, his daughter Carmen Ilia was murdered by her husband. On April 28, 2009, his daughter Noemi Ávila, a Christian pastor herself, died in a car accident in Freites, Venezuela. Although his ministry has expanded across three continents and he has become a household name among Christian families in Latin America, he preferred a humble life, reportedly living in the same house he owned and in the same conditions before his ministry began. In 2009, he suffered a debilitating stroke that limited his speech capabilities, and he retired from public preaching. On June 28, 2013, Yiye Ávila died from cardiac arrest at the age of 87.
