Eight-Year-Old Matadors Forced into Bullfighting in Latin America

Animals

Written by Danny Penman

The scene is familiar to the millions who attend the 'sport' of bullfighting.

A toreador tossed in the air, his cape billowing over his shining embroidered suit, then falling heavily, only to crouch in agony in the dust of the arena as he endures another charge from the tortured beast.

But Rafita Mirabel is no ordinary toreador. He is just ten years old, one of the growing army of child bullfighters that are daily putting their lives at risk as the money men behind this barbaric entertainment try to reinvigorate the sport in the face of dwindling crowds.

Rafita was eight years old when he made his debut. He is considered exceptionally gifted, but that has not been enough for him to escape injury. Last year, he was trampled and gored and narrowly escaped with his life.

"I have been hit several times and it really hurts," he admitted.

"But you have to keep going and you cannot cry in the ring. Afterwards, you can scream all you want."

Rafita passes his cape over a young bull, but the bull catches him with a horn and tosses him into the air. The young toreador is then dumped on the ground and trampled by the enraged animal

Rafita and an increasing number of children like him are being trained in toreador schools in Mexico not only to fight bulls but also how to slice off the animal's ears and tail correctly once it has been dispatched, then display them to baying crowds.

Even though they fight younger bulls with underdeveloped horns, the risks are huge. But so, too, are the potential rewards.

Child superstars are considered by the crowds to make bullfights more exciting, and they can earn hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.

Many of the children come from Spain, where it is illegal to train to become a bullfighter under the age of 16. In Mexico, there is no minimum age.

The coup de grace: Rafita has the bull's severed ear as his winning trophy

This month, a 14-year-old Spanish boy called Jairo - who left Spain for Mexico with his bullfighter father - was badly gored. As he was rushed to hospital, he gasped: "I'm dying, Daddy, I'm dying."

Luck was on his side. The bull's horn had entered his thorax, ripped through a lung and brushed the aorta - the main artery leading from the heart. It had been centimetres from the heart itself, but Jairo is now recovering in hospital.

The child toreador craze began a decade ago when the Spanish bullfighter Julian Lopez Escobar, or El Juli as he is known, made his Mexican debut at the age of just 14.

At that time, he was the youngest yet toreador - the Anglicised version of the word matador - and his 'skills' electrified the crowd and reinvigorated the flagging sport across Latin America. He became a fully fledged professional toreador two years later.

Grasping managers and agents soon realised there was huge money to be made from under-age bullfighters and have encouraged children into the ring despite the appalling risks.

But while it is no doubt frightening for the young toreadors to face a charging bull, it should not be forgotten that the animals are rarely given even a fighting chance.

In a typical bullfight, the animal enters the arena and is taunted and provoked into charging. First come the picadors, men on blindfolded horses, who drive sharp steel lances into the bull's back and neck muscles. The bull becomes so weakened through bloodloss and pain that it can barely lift its head.

Then come the banderilleros on foot, who proceed to stab 'banderillas', or brightly coloured sticks with barbed steel points, into the animal's back.

When the bull has been critically weakened, the banderilleros chase the bull into ever tightening circles until it is confused and dizzy.

Finally, when the animal is literally on its last legs, the toreador appears. He forces a few last charges out of the crippled animal before trying to kill it with his sword.

The League Against Cruel Sports is forthright: "Surely the question is not only whether children should be fighting bulls but whether anyone should be fighting bulls.

"This so-called 'sport' is nothing more than an excuse to torture and kill defenceless animals all in the name of entertainment."

As Jairo lies in his hospital bed recovering from his injuries, we should all realise that it is not just children like himself who are the victims of this terrible 'sport'.

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