Goring of 14-year-old exposes child toreros' perilous lives

A teenage torero lies soaked in blood in his sequined suit, the latest victim of a controversial craze for child bullfighters sweeping Latin America. Jairo Miguel, 14, was gored in the thorax and had his lung punctured by a 900lb bull in Mexico City during a corrida.

"I'm dying, I'm dying," he said as he was carried from the ring. A bull, named Hidrocalido, lifted the slightly built Miguel into the air, carried him several yards on one of its horns during the fight on Sunday. Surgeons said the bull's horn came within an inch of Miguel's heart.

One of the youngest matadors in the world when he started fighting in Mexico two years ago, Miguel sought to evade the ban on child matadors in his native Spain, where 16 is the minimum age to face a bull in the ring. Matadors must be 18 before they can kill the animal.

In the increasingly competitive world of los toros (bulls), many young Spanish prodigies get round the rules by appearing in bullfights in Latin America, where the fashion for child toreros has become increasingly popular.

Some child bullfighters are as young as 10 or 12, but the youngest on record was Rafita Mirabal, who was only eight.

He faced calves hundreds of pounds heavier than him in bullfights near Mexico City in 2005. He still listened to stories on his mother's knee, yet did not appear daunted when he had to face potentially lethal calves in the ring.

But the fad for child toreros has been attacked by anti-bullfighting groups, doctors and child protection groups as irresponsible. Maria Lopes, of the International Movement Against Bullfights, said both parents and governments which allowed children to bullfight should be held responsible.

"Children, many from poor families, are seduced into the world of bullfighting by promises of fame, glory and above all money," she said. "What happened to Jairo Miguel is lamentable but it is the result of laws which allow children to take part in bull fights."

Dr Luis Romero, the surgeon who operated on Miguel at the Aguascalientes' Guadalupe Clinic, said: "He was lucky, if you can call somebody who has been gored by a bull lucky." He added if the four-inch cut had been one inch closer to his heart "this would have been a catastrophe where it would have been difficult to control" the bleeding.

However, some doctors see nothing wrong in children facing four-ton bulls. Dr Carlos Hernandez Sanchez, who treated Miguel in the ring, said: "These are injuries which can happen. He is a great bullfighter."

Inaki Negrete, of the Mexican Association of Fighting Bull Breeders, said the responsibility for young bullfighters rested with their families, who often encouraged their sons to go into the "sport". "Normally, it's the parents of these children who put them into the bullfighting schools. It depends on individual judgement."

Miguel's father, Antonio Sanchez Caceres, is a well-known matador, who was in the ring when Miguel was hurt. The young matador once confessed he cried before a fight, out of nerves. His parents were not available for comment.

The fashion for young bullfighters in Latin America started in the 1990s, but is thought to have taken off in 1997 with the arrival in Mexico of one of Spain's biggest matadors, Julian Lopez Escobar, or "El Juli". He was just 14.

Juan Carlos Lopez, of the Aguascalientes ring where Miguel was injured, said there had been even younger fighters present at the same corrida. Buthe refused to give their ages.

Toreros often come from bullfighting families and are brought up in what is still considered a national "sport" in Spain. It is less popular in Mexico and other parts of Latin America.