The avenue was so named in 1894 in honor of Col. Pedro José Díaz (1801 — 1857), who played an important role in the Army of the Andes during the Argentine War of Independence of the 1810s, in the Cisplatine War of the 1820s, and on behalf of Governor Juan Manuel de Rosas, for whom he led the Infantry during the Battle of Caseros of 1852.