Díaz Ayuso emphasized the works for the recovery of this award from the Senate and the autonomous communities of Madrid, Murcia, the Valencian Community, Aragon, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, and the Toro de Lidia Foundation. Due to this fact, she indicated that this prestigious recognition will not be forgotten «in the face of censorship and ignorance,» after the Ministry of Culture and the Central Government wanted to erase it «unilaterally and sectorially.»
«If I could, I would cancel Picasso and Goya; Manolete and Belmonte; Ortega and Argentinita; Lorca and Hemingway; Orson Welles and Joaquín Sabina,» she emphasized, while recalling how many years artists and history itself were censored, followed, and canceled, in what she described as «selective amnesia and imposed by law,» while harassing as he harasses while harassing «all those who love the truth of an art that is essential to ourselves.»
In her opinion, «those who try to snatch freedom and prosperity always agree to try against Spanish and Spanish roots, like the fight with the Bull,» a circumstance that took place in some Spanish regions.
Winner, February 11 in Toledo
This award will continue to be given annually, while this exceptional situation continues. The winner of this edition will receive 30,000 euros, maintaining the amount that was given before its suppression. The jury will meet on February 11 in Toledo, where the winner’s name will be announced, and the award will be presented to the Senate, at the same time that it will be established.
The National Bullfighting Award, which has been awarded since 2013, recognizes the merits of bulls, farmers, and entrepreneurs who have been representing their work in the dissemination of the cultural values of this discipline. In recent years, figures such as Paco Ojeda, Enrique Ponce, or Julián López El Juli, among others, have received this distinction, among others.
Bullfighting hall for students at the Yiyo school
The event ended with a bullfighting ring exhibition by the students of José Cabero Yiyo, one of the six learning centers of this art that the Madrid community has. Since November 2021, this regional resource has returned to its facilities in the emblematic sale of Batán, in the countryside in Madrid, and more than a hundred of its students participated in 371 shows during the last year.