The Not-So-Brave Bulls

Latin American bullfight fans have long claimed that there is a simple and sinister explanation for the strange behavior of Spanish matadors, so daring at home, often so cautious on tours abroad. The explanation: bull handlers in Spain soften up the bulls beforehand by trimming their horns. Last week aficionados on both sides of the Atlantic were embroiled in hot debate--and the Latin Americans had confirmation of their darkest suspicions--after a series of revelations by no less an authority than Antonio Bienvenida, rated among Spain's top ten matadors.

As Bienvenida described the fix, the handlers cut away a few inches of horn, then disguise their work by filing and painting the mutilated tips and by shaving away hair at the base to make the horn look longer. This operation, said Bienvenida, explains much of the daring of big-name Spanish matadors in recent years.

"No wonder our bullfighters clown with the bulls nowadays," said he. "With the bulls in such a condition, anybody can get into the ring and caress the bull's muzzle and grin at the spectators while the bull is charging. The poor animal is like a man whose teeth have been filed down to the gums and who has to chew hard bread.

Just look what happens to our big stars when they go to South America." Before the week was out, Matador Bienvenida could point to two examples of just how tough Latin American bullfighting can be. One example was provided by one of Mexico's top matadors, Jorge Aguilar, who was carried to the hospital with a deep horn wound in his right leg.

The other example came from Caracas, Venezuela. Trying to make up for a lackluster performance with his first bull of the afternoon, Spain's top matador, Luis Miguel Dominguin (TIME, Dec. 22), worked his second with contemptuous skill. Then, as Dominguin casually seated himself on the estribo (the wooden ridge running around the inside of the barrier wall), the bull caught the matador in the thigh, spun him to the ground.

It was the worst goring of Dominguin's career, his first in five years. Commenting coldly on the mishap, a Madrid newspaper sided with the Latinos: "From now on, if we want to see the real thing, we will have to go to Latin America."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.