“It’s time to think about doing other things with my life.”

“I never thought about saying goodbye,” admits Maripaz Vega as she announces her retirement in her native Malaga. The Elíseos Hotel was the appropriate place to announce the campaign to bid farewell to the career of the woman with the longest career in the world. … wheels. He would do so alongside the person who was actually his agent, Lázaro Carmona, the bullfighter who always chose Maripaz, defending tooth and nail wherever he could. “I never imagined a farewell like this,” says the bullfighter, her skin wrinkled by the scars of unforgettable battles. “I have devoted many years to the world of bullfighting, and it’s time to think about doing other things with my life,” says a woman who will always feel like a bullfighter and will never put her ex before her.

Vega refers to the intense preparation, to the long hours of cloak and crutch, the shadows and lights, the dreams to be fulfilled. He does not hesitate to add a farewell to the Malagueta bullring, “where I was born, where I trained in the bullfighting school, and where I achieved important victories,” he explains, imagining the unique shores of the Mediterranean. In his native Malaga, he won the Cape’s Best Bullfighter award two decades ago.

Lázaro Carmona, Maripaz Vega, and Muriel Viner

Years pass, but the enthusiasm is great: “I never lost it by continuing to fight and train every day,” he points out. He is already fully preparing for his future commitments.

Overall, his representative: “Maribaz has written an important page in the history of bullfighting, with a very important CV against very serious bulls who do not doubt his ability, so he must say goodbye because he deserves it.” Decades of dedication, it was easy to get bored, but loyalty to the Bull, that brave totem who knows how to walk the rope of the abyss, prevailed. Lazarus will be his faithful companion in this second and final stage, because the end is also present in the roots.

From woman to woman

Born on November 7, 1974 in the city of Picasso, she took the swing on September 29, 1997 in Goyesca Cáceres in front of the Carpintero Bull by José Luis Marca, with Cristina Sánchez as godmother – the first time a woman has handed over the baton – and in the presence of Antonio Ferreira. Maripaz was the first woman to become a wrestler in Spain (Cristina earned her doctorate in Nîmes).

He is nearly thirty-five seasons away from his debut in 1991, which will be a round number in 2026 when the curtain comes down on his career. He has ascended the altars of bullfighting, with confirmations at Las Ventas in Madrid, at Santamaría in Bogotá and at Monumental in Mexico, where on March 11, 2011 he achieved the remarkable feat of stepping out on the shoulders.

It was in America where he built a large part of his career, with a label not only in Mexico, but also in Venezuela, Peru and Colombia. All of these professional achievements were described by journalist and writer Muriel Viner, author of the book “Women and Bullfighting,” noting that “the world of bullfighting owes her an important farewell; she deserves it, and the fans deserve it, too.”