Abellán in the dock

Miguel Abellán a portagayola (Madrid 2015)

Most of the media coverage from a pretty lacklustre Feria de Otoño has focused on a row between Morante de la Puebla and ex-matador Miguel Abellán that became explicit in the callejón of Las Ventas on October 8.

In fact, the scene was set that morning when Abellán, appointed by the Partido Popular three years ago as Director-Gerente of the Comunidad de Madrid’s Centro de Asuntos Taurinos, was reportedly annoyed at coming across Morante’s apoderado, Pedro Jorge Marqués, in Las Ventas inspecting the state of the ring. Although Abellán has denied that Marqués made any suggestions about improving the arena, it is believed an argument occurred, during which Abellán allegedly threatened to ensure that Morante never appeared at Las Ventas again.

Come that afternoon’s corrida, Morante drew the worst of a poor string of Puerto de San Lorenzo bulls, while Uceda Leal had the fourth animal devuelto and replaced by a José Vázquez sobrero. Before the corrida ended, Morante gesticulated towards Abellán and then reportedly complained to him about the hardness of the arena which he reckoned had caused injuries to the hooves of his second animal (the fifth) and the one after that. A source close to Morante has commented since, “The ruedo is very hard. It should be decompacted. Bulls hurt their hooves by not having grip. Or they slip. The worst area is near the burladero of Tendido 2.”

Two days after the incident, Abellán told the listeners of Onda Madrid, “I occupy a public position and limited myself to listening to Morante’s argument. I told Morante not to yell at me; there were lots of people in hearing range and I could hear him perfectly […] In San Isidro, Morante produced one of the faenas of his life in the very same ring, but sometimes a centimetre [of sand] doesn’t upset him, and at other times it appears like Mount Everest.”

Morante then turned to the media to respond, saying that Abellán was “a liar and a joke. I want to make it clear that at no point did I talk about the small incline there is in the plaza: my aim the other day was solely to see the surface softened so that the bulls don’t injure themselves. The truth is that I do not understand how Ayuso [Isabel Díaz Ayuso, President of the Comunidad de Madrid], who defends bullfighting with such class, employs such a character - who doesn’t represent the public, nor the abonado, nor the professionals - at the head of the world’s most important bullring.”

Is Abellán responsible for the ring’s condition?

Miguel Abellán has said, “They always point me out as the guilty party, but not everything that happens in Madrid’s bullring is to do with my area of responsibility.”

Preparing Las Ventas for a corrida

In recent years, aficionados have raised concerns about the condition of Las Ventas. For example, there are worn steps, chipped slabs, bricks in danger of falling and walls in need of repainting. And Morante has long complained about the state of the ring itself. The matador, with his links to Vox, may also be using Las Ventas as a means of attacking Vox’s Right-wing rivals, the Partido Popular - in the past, he has also criticised Abellán for his part in the Comunidad de Madrid’s decision to keep Las Ventas closed throughout 2021 when other bullrings were reopening following the Covid pandemic.

But is Abellán at fault for the condition of Las Ventas? The stated main responsibilities of the Centro de Asuntos Taurinos are as follows:

a) The exploitation, subject to Administrative Law, of Las Ventas, “exercising the surveillance, coordination and control of the possible awardees of the bullring by means of contracted specifications and through appropriate executive bodies.”

b) Advice and collaboration, where appropriate, with the public authorities within the Comunidad that organize bullfights.

c) The promotion of festejos, with special attention to the new generations of bullfighters, encouraging their participation in the bullfighting schools in the Comunidad.

d) Promoting la Fiesta, in its social and cultural dimension, as a festival of the people, organizing as many activities of all kinds as this objective permits. In its historical aspect, taking care of, organising and adding to the Bullfighting Museum of Las Ventas.

e) Address the bullfight livestock problem in collaboration with other public bodies and with educational and livestock research entities.

f) Defend bullfighting, initiating and supporting initiatives and promoting measures in this regard to public authorities and associations of professionals in the sector, as well as with aficionados’ associations and clubs.

Nowhere here is it said that the Centro is responsible for maintaining Las Ventas in a good state of repair.

Nor, perhaps, are the current empresas of Las Ventas, Simon Casas Production and Nautalia Viajes, responsible, the objectives of the contract which they have entered into being “the exploitation, by means of a service concession, of the bullring of Las Ventas, the management of the bullfighting schools of the Comunidad and the realization of guided tours of the Las Ventas bullring.” Although doubtless there is an argument to say the empresas’ responsibilities include ensuring that all the appropriate conditions are in place - including the state of the arena - for bullfights to occur. Indeed, commenting on his spat with Morante, Miguel Abellán has said that the matador appeared to be unhappy with the efforts of the bullring’s workforce (who are employed by the empresa, not the Centro nor the Comunidad).

Otherwise, responsibility for the upkeep of the bullring lies with the Comunidad itself, as the building’s owners. Longtime readers of this blog will recall that, in 2017, the Comunidad announced a €5m programme of works to Las Ventas to make the building fit to hold a variety of events, only to decide, just over a year ago (see ‘Las Ventas - cathedral or museum piece?’), that Las Ventas would be used essentially as a bullfight venue rather than be an espacio multiusos, and, consequently, that there was no need for the remainder of the planned works to go ahead. In 2020, the newspaper El Mundo reported that the Comunidad had made a profit of €52m from Las Ventas over the previous 15 years.

So, Miguel Abellán is not responsible for the state of Las Ventas’s arena or any other part of the building. However, he is the go-between for the empresas and la Comunidad, so presumably, if either party opted to express concern about the ring or the building, it would be his role to raise the matter with the other party and seek a resolution.