Paco Camino Sánchez

Francisco Camino Sánchez (; 14 December 1940 – 29 July 2024), known in the bullfighting world as Paco Camino , was a Spanish bullfighter and bull breeder. A bullfighter of the highest order, he dominated tauromachy and was twelve times borne shoulder-high out through the Great Gate at Las Ventas in Madrid, a record bested only by Santiago Martín Sánchez ("El Viti").

Early life Camino's association with bullfighting went all the way back to his baptism, at which he was covered with a capote de paseo. Furthermore, Camino's father was the former novillero Rafael Camino ("Rafaelillo de Camas"

Before giving himself over wholly to bullfighting, Camino was an employee at a baker's oven. ) at Cumbres Mayores, Huelva in 1954, alternating with Diego Puerta. The bull used in the ceremony was named Mandarín, and came from the Antonio y Carlos Urquijo de Federico ranch. That afternoon, he cut one ear from each of the two bulls that he fought. with whom he appeared as a matador at a mano a mano (a bullfighting event at which there are only two bullfighters on the bill rather than the usual three) on 28 July 1960 in Valencia. His presentation as a matador at the Maestranza in Seville on 19 April 1961 likewise included Ordóñez on the bill, along with his alternativa witness, Mondeño. The bulls that they fought were from the Hermanos Peralta ranch.

Camino had nonetheless recovered sufficiently by 24 May 1962 for him to take part in the ceremony to confirm José Martínez Limeño's alternativa; he bore witness while Diego Puerta stood as "godfather". Bulls were supplied by the Antonio Pérez de San Fernando ranch.

Camino also received confirmation of his alternativa in Mexico. This took place at the Plaza de Toros México in Mexico City on 16 December 1962. Standing as "godfather" then was Antonio Velázquez, while Humberto Moro bore witness. The José Julián Llaguno ranch supplied the bulls, including Recuerdo, the bull used in the confirmation. He cut one ear on this occasion. On 29 October 1967, he presented himself at the Plaza de toros de Acho in Lima, where he refused to slay the afternoon's fifth bull, for which kindness the authorities decreed that he should be taken to prison and held for 24 hours.

In his twenty bullfighting seasons as a matador, Camino fought in 1,490 corridas, cutting 1,176 ears and 126 tails as he went. He sustained some thirty gorings, two of which were very serious, in Bilbao in 1961 and at Aranjuez in 1980.

Camino definitively retired from the bullrings at Valladolid on 23 September 1983. He donned the suit of lights for the last time at Nîmes, in 1987, to give his son, Rafi Camino, his alternativa. From 1996 onwards, he was linked to the bullfighting world through his bull ranch, Los Camino.

Personal life Camino's brother, Joaquín Camino Sánchez, a subalterno on his bullfighting team (cuadrilla), was killed on 3 June 1973 at La Monumental in Barcelona when a bull named Curioso from the Atanasio Fernández ranch gored him.

Death and tributes Camino died on 29 July 2024 in Navalmoral de la Mata in the Extremaduran province of Cáceres at the age of 83. His health had taken a turn for the worse and he had been hospitalized.

Camino's coffin was presented beneath a mantle of Our Lady of Sorrows, a devotional figure closely linked to the bullfighter.

Miguel Ángel Yáñez said of Camino "A controversial bullfighter, a highly refined stylist with the cape, magnificent with the muleta, he preferred the left to the right. Classic, confident, he gave sublime chicuelinas, knowledgeable, intelligent; in short, a gifted bullfighter."

Consuelo Font, writing for El Mundo, offered "His refined style with the cape and the beautiful rhythm that he drew with his wrist in his natural passes earned him the fans' admiration, raising him to the top of the escalafón."

Eduardo Dávila Miura called Camino a "mythic figure" in bullfighting.

Camino was buried in Camas's municipal graveyard, where his brother Joaquín had already lain for more than half a century.