Julio Robles

Injury and later years Statue in Julio Robles's honour outside the Salamanca bullring. On 13 August 1990, Robles's career as a bullfighter came to an abrupt end when he was seriously injured by a bull named Timador, from the Cayetano Muñoz ranch, at the Béziers bullring in the south of France. Timador twice threw the bullfighter over while the latter was performing a verónica, causing damage to his neck vertebrae that was bad enough to leave Robles tetraplegic. Nevertheless, the gravity of Robles's injury became quite apparent after he was quickly taken to the bullring's infirmary, and he was then transferred by helicopter to a hospital in Montpellier (about 60 km away from Béziers) — indeed, the very same hospital where Nimeño II had undergone surgery after his injury. Although Robles had not actually broken his neck, the lesions between his fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae nonetheless left him severely disabled for the rest of his life.

Robles's medical condition, which left him with some limited movement, led to marital breakdown, and his Colombian wife, Liliana María Mejías, left her husband of twelve years in 1993 and returned to her country after experiencing what she described as three years of immense pain and suffering. He would spend most of the rest of his life there.

Even after he had become tetraplegic, Robles still managed to pursue his other great joy, which was hunting. He needed a board to keep his left arm straight so that he could hold the rifle. He could then pull the trigger with his right thumb — the finger in which he had the best movement. He managed to kill two deer this way. His apoderado (manager/agent) Victoriano Valencia's son-in-law Enrique Ponce even helped Robles do a bit of bullfighting, from his wheelchair. Robles also kept up on events in the bullfighting world, and was impressed with many of the younger bullfighters. He still sometimes also travelled. Bullfighting clubs in both Paris and London invited him to visit, and despite his limited mobility, he accepted these invitations and was especially impressed by London, saying later that it was a "stupendous trip to that city that was so fascinating". At the time when he gave his last interview – only fifteen days before his then unexpected death – he was getting ready for several hunting trips to South Africa. By this time, he had already learnt to drive again, using a modified car. Robles was considered a bullfighter of classical style, depth, quality, purity and artistry.

Robles's loyal apoderado Victoriano Valencia donated another sculptural monument to the town of Ahigal de los Aceiteros, where Robles's surviving family members now live. The sculptor was Luis Sanguino. It depicts Robles in his suit of lights, fighting a bull.

Desecration of Robles's grave In September 2008, members of the Iniciativa Charra Contra la Desaparición del Tauricidio ("Salamancan Initiative Against [sic] the Disappearance of Tauricide"; another report renders this name a bit less contradictorily Iniciativa Charra Contra el Tauricidio, or "Salamancan Initiative Against Tauricide") claimed responsibility for having profaned the bullfighter's grave, which lies at the cemetery in Ahigal de los Aceiteros, Salamanca, This included such slogans as "Toreros asesinos" ("Bullfighters murderers"). They also stole the bust of Robles, weighing 20 kg, and stated that they would not return it until "the massacre of fighting bulls ends". Eleven members were arrested and detained in 2011 in places all over Spain, and accused in this and many other violent acts. By this time, they were being identified as members of the Spanish arm of the Animal Liberation Front, a "radical ecological group".