Andres Vazquez has died, bullfighter figurine from the 60s and 70s, eternal memory to the fans. After a very hard struggle for cities, forged in capea and tentadero, and spending twelve years in the novillero, he succeeded as a bullfighter. One of those “bullfighters of bullfighters”, a mirror in which many could look at themselves. How much he earned, quite a lot, lost on a real estate deal. He did not know how to manage his capital. He remained a little less than on the street. He was also unlucky in love, although in two of his relationships he experienced a couple of romantic stories with married women.
Andres Mazariegos Vasquez was from Villalpando (Zamora). July 25, he will be ninety years old. He announced to his countrymen that, if possible, on that day he was ready to kill the bull. His hobby was such that he dreamed of such nonsense at such an advanced age. A couple of months ago, he was admitted to the Benavente hospital with a heart attack. He got over it. But this Saturday, April 17, he died of multiple organ failure. In their own land, they mourn their absence. He was a great bullfighter, a solid man.
At the age of fourteen, he left his city, thinking that in Madrid he would find a way to become a bullfighter. Since his pockets were empty even for small things, he had to work at the Central market unloading trucksfrom which a modest pension could be paid. Having already decided to try his luck in the bulls, he joined the a gang of “capitalists”, those who spontaneously rush to the square, dreamers of ring glory looking for farms where they could train if they were allowed to. Capes, those capes in towns where they would fight at parties almost for free, only in exchange for food and what they could collect with a cape, begging for alms from car seat lovers. It’s very hard to study. In those days it was called ninthafter Child of Villalpando and already triumphant Wizard of Villalpando.
When, on May 19, 1962, Andrés Vázquez was able to accept the alternative from Gregorio Sanchez and the witness Juan Garcia Mondeño, the man from Zamora was satisfied enough. Castilian bullfight, tough, no frills. Domain with cloak and crutch. He saw some footage of Juan Belmonte and was able to watch Domingo Ortega’s assignments, from whom he received wise advice.
Andres Vazquez was the “Madrid Bullfighter”. He liked his style at the Monumental de las Ventas, where he alternated several times with Antonio Bienvenida. When the tragic death of a son Black DadAndres offered to fight six bulls alone to pay for a monument to his friend, which was made by the sculptor Luis Sangino. Andrés was also the first matador to lock himself in with half a dozen cattle from the terrible Victorino Ranch. Namely, having retired a couple of times in the 1974 and 1977 seasons, he killed the same bull in 2012 to celebrate his alternative half-century. He cut off two ears and a tail of his enemy. He was then eighty years old!
It could be assumed that the bullfighter of his race, a luxurious sword at great fairs, would earn a lot of money. If he did not become a millionaire, then he had considerable capital, but he did not know how to manage it, or he was simply unlucky. He contacted other partners in a real estate deal and things went wrong, ending much like he started in the ring, “tobacco-free”, broke.
Gone was his flawless success record. He aroused Orson Welles sincere admiration, to the point that the film genius invited him to make a film with him, interpreting the life of Juan Belmonte. The script was very advanced, although it was never filmed. Orson invited him to dinner at his Madrid home in the Cuesta de las Perdices, and the bullfighter corresponded with him at 120 Calle de Serrano, which was one day to be sold. Andres Vazquez, on the other hand, has appeared in three films: i saw deathJosé Maria Forque; You are alone, Theo Escamilla and in 2019 supernaturalbased on the novel by Juan Figueroa, shot in Salamanca around a bullfighter who is facing the last bull of his life.
It was Andres, who barely studied, was self-taught, who at one time in his life was keenly interested in painting, visited exhibitions and acquired paintings by famous artists. He also entertained himself by writing several lyrics.
O your sentimental lifeAndres Vasquez met a married woman with whom he shared a platonic love. She did not want to part with her husband, although she no longer loved, and found an understanding man in the bullfighter. Sooner or later this relationship will come to an end. And they left. Andres later became infatuated with another married woman. This time, their idyll already had other consequences. Concha Velao Gonzalo was the mother of four children. She left her husband and began to live with Andres, with whom she will have a fifth, the girl Jimena, who made very happy the one who was so unlucky in love and in her desire to start a family. Then, for reasons that elude us, this alliance fell apart. In his last days, Andres found in Maria the last sentimental cane to lean on.
After your economic disasterAndres Vasquez, accustomed to falling and getting up, looked for other places to earn a living. For some time he settled in a town in Toledo. It has been modestly redesigned as teacher at the Bullfighting School in Madrid, and as a commentator on Telemadrid bullfighting festivities, where he provided his voice and his great knowledge, sometimes with excessive rigor. And this is the one who, like him, had a bullfight in his blood, dictated these lessons, remembering his priceless glory days.