THE REPORT

 

Unlike previous editions which we saw, this year was probably the "best" edition: generally this part of the event, called "corrida de elecciones", takes between 1 hour and 1 ½ hours and this year we were very surprised (positively) because it lasted only 30 minutes from 10:10 to 10:40.

 

 

One might think that the cause of this rapid "corrida" was the rain, but there were already other editions with rain and nevertheless the duration was more than an hour; instead we think it was for fear that the Region will really prohibit the use of the donkey in future. Therefore they have probably decided to speed up to avoid the "usual" controversy with animalists.

 

 

 

For this reason, it was very difficult, apart for the rain, being able to film and take pictures because the stops were few and we could not find a good position for ourselves, so it was almost a continuous race behind the crowd.

 

 

 

Already, after the first few metres, we realized that the situation was new, our only major sorrow was that the donkey (the same as in the previous edition which fell down for several times, took a strong slap, as you can see on this our site Report 2009 and on video), because of the slippery roads, could hurt itself, but fortunately everything went well. There are no details to report of abuse: apart of the usual attempt to pick up 2 people on the donkey, and the usual chorus, gunshots, screams, etc.

 

To make you understand the overheated climate of this year, you must know that in this issue could not be present Ivan Salvia, the president of the Spanish Association El Refugio del Burrito, even though we were often in telephone contact: Ivan feared for his safety, because in the days before the fiesta, he was several times in television to denounce and oppose strongly to what happens in Villanueva and, in addition to having "made" the petition to the President of the Region, had also held a garrison outside the Region the week before.

It is possible that in the coming months there may be further developments of the story but our doubt is, like that of Ivan, that even if it will be for only 10 minutes, Villanueva de la Vera, has no intention to avoid the donkey's "performance". And we have no intention to leave them alone.

If there are news, we will publish them soon.

 

Thank you for your precious support!