Spain. He “looked into the eyes of the bull” and stopped fighting? Nice story, but it was different

It generated over 400,000 views post on the X platform on November 21, 2024, the author of which described the moving story of one of the bullfighters who was to end his career in an unusual way. In the two photos attached to the entry we see bullfighters. One is in the arena (plaza de toros), but he is sitting on its wall, hiding his face in his hands as if he was crying. Opposite him is a bull with which the man was most likely fighting. The animal has banderillas stuck into its back, i.e. short spears with long ribbons tied at one end, used to weaken the animal. The second photo is a close-up of the man – he is sitting in a similar position to the first one, but his face is resting on a different hand. “This famous photo shows the matador Álvaro Munero. Suddenly, in the middle of the fight, he sat on the edge of the arena with remorse,” we read in the post. And further: ''He later explained in an interview: 'Suddenly I no longer saw horns, but the eyes of a bull. He stood in front of me, looked at me and didn't try to attack me. In his eyes I recognized the innocence that all animals possess. When he looked at me, I realized he was asking for help. It was like a silent cry for justice. Deep in my soul, I suddenly felt that he was speaking to me – as we speak to God in prayer: 'I don't want to fight you. Please spare me. Kill me if you want if I hurt you. But I won't fight.”

Then – according to the author of the post – the bullfighter allegedly confessed in the above-mentioned interview: “When I read it in his eyes, I felt like the worst creature in the world. I stopped fighting. From that day on, I became a vegetarian and started a campaign to ban corrida…”. The proof of the truth of this story is a link to an English-language article from the Violence Free World website. The title of the text is: “The touching story of how the bullfighter Álvaro Munero became a vegetarian and stopped participating in bullfights.”

The post caused a stir. It was liked over 9,000 times. times, over a thousand users retweeted it. Those who believed in the truth of this story commented: “Bravo for this man. It's stupid and senseless, killing for sport”; “it should be widely disseminated”; “It's strange, but I was very moved by this entry. I also think it's time to end corrida'' (original spelling of all posts).

“A beautiful story. It's a pity that it's not very true.” “Nice story, too bad it's made up,” others responded.

And they were right. Not only is the content incorrect in this post – both photos show two different bullfighters, and neither of them is Álvaro Munero. Besides, the name doesn't match either.

Corrida de toros, known in Poland as corrida or bullfighting, is one of the most famous and controversial Spanish traditions. The spectacle involves a ritual fight between bullfighters and bulls bred especially for this purpose. It consists of several stages, the goal is for the matador to kill the animal (one of the levels that a bullfighter can reach). The bullfight is protected in Spain by the National Heritage Protection Act adopted by Parliament in 2013. In September 2024, Spanish Minister of Culture Ernest Urtasun Domènech announced restrictions on disbursement of funds for organizing bullfights. “When it comes to bull running, I have made it clear. Under my administration there will be neither prizes nor public money for bull running,” he said on La Sexta television. He also stated that in Spanish society there is a growing aversion to the abuse of animals used in shows.

Álvaro Múnera (not Munero) is a Colombian former bullfighter who used the nickname “El Pilarico” during his career. The story about his alleged reason for ending his career has circulated online not for the first time. We have reached Polish entry from 2018, in which a Facebook user published a photo of a bullfighter with a bull and wrote: “The photo shows the matador Torero Alvaro Munera – During the last fight of his career, the bull did not want to attack, so Alvaro wounded the animal to enrage it. The bull still did not show any willingness to attack. After the fight, the matador said: 'Unfortunately, I looked into the bull's eyes. I saw the innocence that all animals have, and he looked at me with that With pleading eyes (…) I cried and begged the bull for forgiveness… That day I felt like the biggest piece of shit in the world.

Similar entries appeared on foreign accounts. For example, one of the Spanish-speaking Internet users published photo along with a false story in September 2016. Several fact-checking editorial offices have already looked at the case and determined that the moving story was made up.

It is true that Álvaro Múnera became an anti-bullfighting activist. However, his career as a bullfighter ended after he suffered an accident during one of the shows, which left Múnera in a wheelchair. This accident from 1984 was reported by, among others, spanish daily ““El País”. The man suffered paralysis of his lower limbs.

It is available on the website of the American-Canadian magazine “Vice”. interview with Álvaro Múnera from 2008. He admits that he has been associated with bullfighting since childhood. “I fought in Spain 22 times until September 22, 1984, when I was grabbed by a bull. He injured my left leg and threw me into the air. This caused a spinal cord injury and a skull injury. The diagnosis was clear: I would never walk again.” – he said. Múnera confessed that he became an animal rights defender while studying in the United States: “My fellow students, doctors, nurses, other people physically disabled, my friends, my North American girlfriend and the aunt of one of my friends said I deserved what happened to me. Their arguments were so solid that I had to accept that I was wrong and that the 99 percent of the human race that vehemently opposes this sad and cruel form of entertainment were absolutely right.

The statement attributed to Múnera in the posts are not his words. Quote comes from one of the columns of the Spanish poet and novelist Antoni Gala entitled “La raza inhumana” (“The Inhuman Race”). The text stayed published in the collection “La casa sosegada” published in 1998, i.e. after the end of Múnera's career, which told the Spanish news service Maldita.es confirmed by the Antoni Gala Foundation.

The first photo in the post quoted above shows – as determined by the website AFP Fact Check – Francisco Javier Sánchez Vara, born in Spain. This was confirmed to the editorial office by three sources. Matador Vara's former manager relayed: “Yes, it's Javi (Javier's nickname).” The man's identity was also confirmed by Veronica Dominguez, a Spanish photographer specializing in bullfighting. “She based her assessment on experience that allows bullfighting photographers to recognize the silhouettes, hair and gestures of matadors without having to look at their faces,” reports AFP Fact Check. Moreover, Álvaro Múnera himself told the editorial office: “It's not me and it's me “it didn't happen” (editor's translation).

The second photo most likely shows another bullfighter. We used reverse image search to find a Spanish speaker article with an interview from September 15, 2007 with a matador nicknamed “El Sid”. This was the nickname used by former matador Manuel Jesús Cid Salas from Seville. The interview was illustrated with a photograph showing the same moment, but captured from a different perspective.

Fact-checkers point out that the gesture visible in the photo is an element of the spectacle called 'desplante', popular during bullfights, during which the bullfighter assumes a seemingly defenseless position to show his superiority over the already injured animal.