MEXICO: 9-year-old matator 'Rafita' Rafael Mirabal draws large crowds in picturesque colonial town of San Miguel de Allende

Record ID: 174108

  • Title: MEXICO: 9-year-old matator 'Rafita' Rafael Mirabal draws large crowds in picturesque colonial town of San Miguel de Allende
  • Date: 18th April 2006
  • Summary: (LATIN) SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, MEXICO (RECENT) (REUTERS) WIDE SHOT SKYLIN EOF THE TOWN OF SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE
  • Embargoed: 3rd May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA5XY90Y48UKJXZ6W15W4UU53KM
  • Story Text: When most other children are playing video games or emulating their footballing heroes, 'Rafita' Rafael Mirabal is fast becoming Mexico's finest mini matador.
    With just a cape and sword for protection, he has walked into the bullring more than two dozen times, like this Saturday (April 15, 2006) in San Miguel de Allende, three hours north of Mexico.
    Discovered in a bullfighting school in the central Mexican state of Aguascalientes, 'Rafita' distinguished himself from other small contenders by his dedication and passion. Although not yet old or strong enough to kill a bull with one blow, causing more pain to the bull or more controversy to an already beleagured sport, in four or five years 'Rafita' will be a fully-fledged matador.
    For now he concentrates on the younger and smaller bulls.
    On Saturday, 'Rafita' was charged by a young bull, thrown into the air and trampled upon, but left the bullring unscathed. And his pride and passion are still as strong as the day he discovered his beloved sport, he says.
    "The fondness [for bullfighting] started the day we went to the fair and I was watching a video of Manolo Martinez in one of those places and they couldn't get me out of there until the video finished," he recalled.
    It's the second time in four weeks that he has been tossed into the air, the first in Texcoco by an older bull. But young 'Rafita' accepts the risks as part of his job.
    "Yes it was a really important date but that has already happened and now you have to look to the future and not to the past," he said.
    Watching from the ringside is the boy's father Rafael Mirabal Martinez who says despite the danger he has every confidence when it comes to sending his son to fight, believe Rafita has the right mental training.
    "More than anything he sees that it is a very difficult profession and that one shouldn't rush ahead with things. He is at this moment enjoying what he is doing. It doesn't stop being a risk, but the teacher has instilled the mentality he has to go on with honesty and to reward those people who pay for a ticket with something that he can do," he said.
    Though still popular in Spain, Portugal and Latin America, bullfighting has been banned in many countries with animal rights protesters claiming the taunting and slow death of the bulls surpass any cultural significance of the sport.
    And so while other nine-year-olds hone their computer skills, Rafita is already battling his own fears of life or death against angry beasts.
    And for fans in the picturesque colonial town of San Miguel de Allende, he is already a man.
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