Calle Cadarso

This street didn’t always bear a hero’s name. Until 1899 it was calle de la Isla de Cuba, and that sign vanished when the city council erased references to the recently lost colonies to dedicate its streets to those fallen in the war against the United States. Luis Cadarso commanded the cruiser Reina Cristina, flagship of the Spanish squadron in the Philippines. On 1 May 1898, in the battle of Cavite, his ship advanced toward the American fleet and became the main target: it took dozens of hits, caught fire and lost much of its crew. Cadarso died on deck, struck squarely by a shell. There is an irony on the map. Cadarso fell in the Philippines and inherited a street named for Cuba; a few steps away, the old calle de Manila came to honour Villaamil, who died in Santiago de Cuba.