The Parque Luz y Caballero takes its name from the prestigious pedagogue and philosopher José Cipriano Pío Joaquín de la Luz y Caballero (1800-1862) that had a great contribution to the consolidation of the national consciousness in the island. His bronze statue is placed on an elevated round platform in the center of the park, in front of the building of the former Colegio Seminario de San Carlos y San Ambrosio (Seminary College of San Carlos and San Ambrosio) where he graduated at the degree of Bachelor of Laws and worked as the Director of the Chair of the Philosophy for many years. He is represented sitting cross-legged on a rock, looking to the front and thinking. His right hand holds a book, while he has a pen at his left hand. On the dark granite pedestal it is written his phrases: educar no es sólo dar carrera para vivir sino templar el alma para la vida (to educate is not only to give a career to live, but to temper the soul for life) and por curar los males de mi patria y promover su ventura derramaría toda mi sangre (to heal the evils of my homeland and promote their happiness, I would shed all my blood). It is the work of the French architect Charles Cousin and the French sculptor Julien Lorieux. It was erected at the initiative of the Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País (Economic Soeciety of Friends of the Country) in memoriam of one of its former directors in Parque de la Punta in 1913, and within the scope of the project of beautification of the seashore and construction of the Malecón, it was moved to the current location in 1926.

The park has a rectangular shape, lying parallel to the coast, consisting of gardens and paths. At its both ends there are the busts that belong to the prominent figures of the Colegio Seminario de San Carlos y San Ambrosio that had great contribution on the formation of national identity in Cuba; the busts of Felix Varela y Morales and José Antonio Saco y López Cisneros. The Cuban priest, writer, philosopher and politician Felix Varela y Morales (1788-1853), the first that taught Cubans to think about patriotism, had a great influence on José de la Luz y Caballero. The sociologist, journalist and historian José Antonio Saco y López Cisneros (1797-1879) stood out against slavery and the annexation of Cuba to the US.

Even though the excavation zone of the city wall makes the passage difficult, the Parque Luz y Caballero is at the transition point from the Malecón to the area around the Cathedral Square. Therefore, the park is surrounded by tourist busses, taxis, vintage cars and coaches.

The west side of the green area along the Malecón is occupied by the Céspedes park (or Parque de la Maestranza) that is used as a children’s park (Parque Infantil). The children’s park is called La Maestranza, referring to the Maestranza de Artillería that was built to repair the artillery and casting of its pieces in this area in 1843. In the time of the republic it housed the Secretaries of State and Justice and later the National Library. In 1938 it was demolished by Batista’s order to build the Police Headquarters.

In front of the children’s park, there are four bronze busts of four prestigious personalities that made great works for Cuban people. These are in sequence: Alexis Everett Fryre, Estaban Borrero Echeverria, Matthew Hanna and Eduardo Yero Buduen.

Alexis Everett Fryre (1859-1936) is an outstanding American pedagogue that obtained great prestige for his educational work in Cuba. Estaban Borrero Echeverria (1849-1906) is a Cuban professor, doctor and poet, one of the great intellectuals in the history of Cuba. Matthew Hanna is an American pedagogue that carried out the organization of public education in Cuba after the cessation of Spanish rule. Eduardo Yero Buduen (1852-1905) is a Cuban journalist and politician that fought for independence of his homeland. The west side of the Céspedes Park is occupied by an amphitheater. It was built by the architect, civil engineer and pre-revolution politician Luis Echarte Mazorra that also built the Casa de la Tejas Verde in Miramar.

However, the most visited place by the tourists is the Malecón side of the park where the statues of some personalities are, such as Hasekura Tsunenaga Rokuemon, José Carlos Mariátegui, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and Rabindranath Tagore.

The bust of José Carlos Mariátegui is the third bust from the right after the busts of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Rabindranath Tagore, where the bust of Rabindranath Tagore is the first one.

José Carlos Mariátegui (1894-1930) is a Peruvian journalist and philosopher that had a great influence on the Latin American socialists. His work Siete Ensayos de Interpretación de la Realidad Peruana (Seven Interpretive Essays on Peruvian Reality), published in 1928, is still widely read in the Latin American countries. He always advocated that the revolution should evolve on the local conditions and practices of the Latin American countries, and it should be avoided to apply any formula strictly that was successfull in other countries. He founded the Socialist Party of Peru that later became the Communist Party of Peru, the proletarian magazine Labor and the General Confederation of Peruvian Workers. Mariátegui's writings concerning the role of the indigenous peoples in the Latin American revolution, led to the rise of popular indigenous movements in Ecuador and Peru. On the other hand, Mariátegui’s phrase sendero luminoso al futuro ( the shining Path to the Future) became the source of inspiration for the name of the Maoist communist group Shining Path. He died of cancer at the age of 36.

One of his phrases is written on the plaque on the pedestal of the bust: La revolución que será para los pobres no solo será la conquista del pan, sino también la conquista de la belleza, del arte del pensamiento y todos las complaceneras del espíritu. (The revolution that will be for the poor, will not only be the conquest of bread, but also the conquest of beauty, the art of thought and all the pleasers of the spirit.).

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) is an Indian poet, musician, painter and narrator that was an active fighter for peace. He is considered the most important Hindu writer and one of the great humanists of the last century. He was the first non-European that won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.  Among his novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays, Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced) and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works. His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India's Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh's Amar Shonar Bangla. Also, the Sri Lankan national anthem was inspired by his work.