Andrés Vázquez dies at the age of 90, the sorcerer of Villalpando

• The last interview Andrés Vázquez: "The bull has been the first thing, I only needed to give it life"

Andrés Vázquez at the age of 90 at the Benavente Hospital (Zamora).

Two months ago he suffered a heart attack for which he has been hospitalized.

as a tribute to a lifetime dedicated to the brave bull.

A bullfighter forged in capeas who managed to reach the top of bullfighting in the 1960s.

, there was a metamorphosis due to his evolution from survival bullfighting to classicism that fit perfectly with the Madrid fans .

Very young he moved to Madrid

to work in a market and to train with Saleri II who had a school in Vista Alegre, "my greatest virtue was my temperament. That character was what led me to go to Madrid at the age of 14 to work and learn to fight. Later that was what helped me in the capeas. Also what got me up in the lowest moments, "he confessed a year ago to EL MUNDO.

Andrés Vázquez an example of vocation, hobby and perseverance.

His beginnings were very hard in those terrifying capeas through the fields of Castile, where he saw several fellow sufferers die between the antlers of those vicious bulls, as masterfully reflected in the film by José María Forqué starring Andrés Vázquez: 'I have seen death '.

His aquiline face, worn by time and suffering, reflects that difficult time.

His first idols -transmitted by his father- were Domingo Ortega and Juan Belmonte.

Classic bullfighters as a base.

His evolution was constant;

from defense to exhibition, from tension to naturalness, from the academic to sentiment.

Domingo Ortega transmitted one of the secrets of the temple to him: "Zamorano, let your crutch smell but don't touch it."

He did not stop growing in search of the naturalness of his friend Antonio Bienvenida.

"From Antonio, may he rest in peace, I learned that bullfighting, that sense of fighting, that grace and that authority that one must have in life," he used to comment.

He took the alternative in Las Ventas from Gregorio Sánchez in 1962, about to turn 30.

He went out on shoulders that so marked day and the following afternoon.

Madrid launched him to the top of bullfighting.

Then came the long seasons, the success, the money and also the gorings.

Some of them very serious.

He was a bullfighter very punished by the bulls, which was not an obstacle to seeking pure bullfighting, true bullfighting.

In 1969 he crossed paths with another character forged in a thousand battles: Victorino Martín.

The career of the teacher from Villalpando began to run out of steam but he cut off two ears of the great Baratero in Las Ventas.

Victorino and Andrés made a tandem for history.

Andrés Vázquez was the first matador to fight six bulls solo for Victorino Martín in Madrid.

Gesture that became a heroic deed and that became a test that great figures of bullfighting have assumed to demonstrate the point of maturity and dominance of him.

Together they reached the highest levels of bullfighting, since thanks to becoming a specialist he managed to open a gap in the elite: "

," he said at the time, in a phrase that is already part of the history of bullfighting.

The figures pointed to the bullfight of Victorino and there they met the Zamorano who understood the Albaserrada wonderfully.

He enjoyed an important poster in the capital of Spain, being considered a bullfighter from Madrid.

In Seville he fought very little, he cut some ears and received the strongest goring of his career from a bull by

.

That very hard mishap and another the following year in Valladolid when he had regained his morale, made him rethink his future.

Before he had left a heads up for the memory with Antonio Bienvenida and Victorino bulls in Madrid.

In 1974 he retires.

In those retired years, they organized a bullfight in Zamora to honor him and give him the Gran Cruz de Beneficencia for his altruism in countless actions in favor of the most needy.

This afternoon, dressed for the street, he curdled a Berrocal hat with unparalleled softness and temper.

A pinnacle work.

He returned to the bulls in 1977

to fight alone in Madrid to pay for the monument to Antonio Bienvenida that is in front of Las Ventas of the great artist from Barcelona, ​​although based in Segovia, Luis Sanguino.

That afternoon he cut off three ears and showed that more relaxed facet, as a teacher, which would accompany him for the rest of his career until he was fired in 1982. Afterwards he reappeared sporadically at festivals and in some bullfights .

He handled the cloak with sobriety but his veronica stockings were colossal: front, a curved point, carrying luck.

He fought au naturel with great depth and was a magnificent bullfighter despite his short stature.

.

He also put banderillas many afternoons, although his physical limitations conditioned him.

He shared many thirds of banderillas with his subordinate Mario Coelho.

The one from Zamora reserved the second pair, almost always breaking, while the Portuguese stood out from power to power or inside unleashing the passion of the public.

so often that in the Sanfermines of 1966, Vázquez cut the tail of a bull owned by Juan Pedro Domecq and shared the start on the shoulders of the Pamplona bullring with his trusted pawn.

Unique case in the history of bullfighting.

He always looked for good bullfighting against embedded bulls.

Coming from the hostile world of the capeas, she refined herself to the point of rubbing elbows with the figures.

He had the support of Antonio Ordóñez.

The character of Andrés Vázquez

mentioned above has also given him a hard time.

As a television commentator he made many enemies in the industry.

A free spirit that made him win everything and lose it later.

He was left with a reputation for being a

, but those of us who have had the opportunity to be close to him know that he has been a good man, with a big heart.

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• Victorino Martin

• Zamora

• Seville

• Valladolid

• Segovia

• Pamplona

• Ministry of Defence

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