at 12:01 on February 18, 2009, EDT.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LISBON, Portugal - Conchita Cintron, a Peruvian woman famous for her bullfighting skills on foot and on horseback, has died, a news agency said. She was 86.

Cintron, who reportedly killed more than 750 bulls during her career, died of a heart attack in Lisbon on Tuesday, the Portuguese news agency Lusa said, quoting unidentified family members.

It was not possible to reach Cintron's family Wednesday, the day a remembrance service was to be held for her in Lisbon.

"She made an indelible mark on a period of bullfighting history," Hugo Ferro of the Portuguese Bullfighters' Union told The Associated Press. "She was probably the best-known woman bullfighter."

Born in 1922 as Concepcion Cintron Verrill, she faced her first bull at the age of 13 and made her debut in 1937 at the main arena in Lima, Peru.

Cintron became one of the most famous women in bullfighting during the 1940s.

She fought in more than 400 events in Portugal, Spain and several South American countries before retiring in 1950.

Cintron learned bullfighting with Ruy Zarco da Camara, a Portuguese who ran a riding school in Lima.

He taught her the Portuguese form of bullfighting on horseback. After fighting in Spain she made her debut in Portugal in 1945.

She retired aged 27 and married a Portuguese, Francisco de Castelo Branco.

Cintron was survived by a son.


©The Canadian Press, 2009

Well then ...

May she rest in peace.

Wow.