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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | April 2007 
Kid Bullfighter Survives Goring
 Mark Stevenson - Associated Press
| | Ole ... 14-year-old Jairo Miguel got away with it in this photo, but at the moment he's nearly dead in hospital. (AP) |
A 14-year-old matador who left Spain to escape a ban on bullfighters under the age of 16 has been nearly gored to death in Mexico, his lung punctured by a 414kg beast.
Jairo Miguel, who has been bullfighting professionally in Mexico for about two years, was working at the Aguascalientes Monumental Bull Ring on Sunday when a bull named Hidrocalido rushed him, lifted him in the air and appeared to carry him several metres with one horn firmly lodged in his thorax.
"I'm dying, Dad, I'm dying," government news agency Notimex quoted him as saying.
His father, Antonio Sanchez Caceres, is a well-known bullfighter who came with him to Mexico and was reportedly at the ring.
The parents could not immediately be reached for comment.
The slightly built, baby-faced Miguel was billed as the youngest matador in the world. He once said he had cried before a fight.
He has scored some victories that entitled him to cut off a bulls' ears, but has also been trampled and injured.
In Spain, a "torero" must be at least 16 to begin training with small bulls but is not allowed to kill a bull before the age of 18, a Royal Bullfighting Federation of Spain official said.
But in Mexico, some start as young as 12 or 13, and there appears to be a rush towards ever-younger fighters who have become a growing attraction in Latin America.
Dr Carlos Hernandez Sanchez said Miguel was the youngest goring victim he had ever treated.
Surgeon Luis Romero, who operated on Miguel, said the bull's horn brushed his aorta and came within 25mm of his heart.
"He was lucky, if you can call somebody who has been gored by a bull lucky," he said.
Miguel was connected to a respirator on Tuesday but doctors were confident they could restore much of his lung function and expected him to recover.
The injury has revived a debate in Mexico about young bullfighters.
Ring manager Juan Carlos Lopez said there had been even younger fighters there, but he would not give their ages.
Maria Lopes of the International Movement Against Bullfights said parents and governments that allow children to bullfight should be held responsible.
"Children, many from poor families, are seduced into the world of bullfighting by promises of fame, glory and above all, money," she said. |
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