Conchita Cintrón. That name evokes fond memories of and nostalgia for my years as a young boy in my native Ecuador, just as another name does: Evita Perón.
However, there is one notable difference.
I have continued to frequently come across the name of that famous personality, the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until 1952, the charismatic, idolized, all but canonized Evita Perón.
But, I don’t believe that I have heard or read again about Conchita Cintrón, perhaps the most famous personality in bullfighting, until this morning, when I read the New York Times.
You see, when I was around 7 or 8 years old, Conchita Cintrón—also known as “La Diosa Rubia” (The Blond Goddess)—was one of the most famous bullfighters in the world, and definitely the most famous woman bullfighter, or “torera.”
I still remember her name being mentioned with respect and awe—she must have been around 25 years old then— as she performed her “corridas” at many South American (including Ecuador’s) and European plazas de toros.
While I no longer appreciate the “sport” of bullfighting, I do remember that during those impressionable pre-teen years, going to see Conchita “fight a bull” would have been similar to today having the opportunity to attend the Super Bowl.
In the late 40s, when I still lived in Ecuador, Conchita continued to “fight bulls” for a few more years, and even became a legend as a “matadora,” where the bullfighter fights and kills the bull from on foot—something that was seriously frowned upon and was even illegal in Spain, for women.
According to the New York Times this morning:
Her final bullfight was legendary. (Some sources say it was her penultimate fight.) It was in Jaén, Spain, in 1949, and as the fight ended, she flouted the Spanish law that prohibited women from fighting a bull on foot. Dismounting, she allowed the bull to approach her but did not kill it, touching the bull lovingly with her hand instead as it hurtled by her. Another bullfighter completed the killing. She was immediately arrested, and then pardoned, as the crowd cheered, and she was awarded the highest honor of the ring: both of the bull’s ears and the tail. She wept as she left the arena.
Wikipedia gives us a more extended and emotive version of Conchita’s “final” fight:
She intended the final corrida of the 1949 season, in Jaén, Spain, to be the last of her career. She appeared in the ring together with the matadors Manolo Vázquez and Antonio Ordóñez. After performing on horseback with the bull, Cintrón rode to the box of the presidente and asked for permission to dismount for the kill. Permission was denied. This was her signal to leave the arena, and leave the killing of the bull to the novillero assigned to her for that task. Instead, she dismounted, grabbed his sword and muleta, caped the bull and prepared it for the kill. She actually went in for the kill and then dramatically let the sword drop to the sand. The bull charged. Cintrón stepped from his path and simulated the kill by touching his shoulders with her fingers as he rushed by. Pandemonium erupted in the stands and the audience threw hats and red carnations at her feet. The novillero then entered the ring and performed the kill, as originally planned.
Cintrón walked calmly away from the bull and was arrested as she left the ring, for violating the law banning women from fighting on foot. With the audience on the verge of rioting in protest of her arrest, the regional governor pardoned her and she was released. It was one of the most dramatic moments in bullfighting history. As Orson Welles wrote in the introduction to her memoirs, her career “ended in a single burst of glorious criminality. You can’t keep a lady waiting forever, and there came an afternoon when she decided that she’d waited long enough.”
I said “final” fight because other sources have her fighting one more time in Spain, on October 18, 1950, when she must have been around 28 years.
Following her retirement she married a Portuguese nobleman and settled down in Portugal. It is said that she killed more than 750 bulls during her career.
As I mentioned, I read Conchita’s name for the first time that I remember since I was a young boy, this morning in the Times.
It was under the sad heading, “Conchita Cintrón, One of First Female Bullfighters, Dies at 86.”
Conchita Cintrón died in Lisbon on Tuesday. The cause of death is reported to have been a heart attack.
I hope it is appropriate to say at this time, with every due respect, “Thanks for the memories, Conchita”
Image: Courtesy actualidad.terra.es
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.