Francisco Cisneros received multiple recognitions inside and outside the country. Photo El Mercurio/Bolívar Sinchi.
In the 1950s, little or nothing was known about the so-called ‘combat sports’ in Azuay. Francisco Cisneros’ curiosity was as great as his love for equavolley. He played whenever he could until he liked to fight.
It all started after he took a wrestling course with teacher José Perrone and -without thinking about it- he was presented with the opportunity to train in Guayaquil with Rubén ‘Gavilán’ Robelli, a professional wrestler.
‘Pancho’ – as his friends know him – took advantage of his stay in the ‘Pearl of the Pacific’ to observe Mexican catchascan wrestlers. He was fascinated by his fighting and invited them to Cuenca. On a ring made of eucalyptus he presented the first catchascan show at the Benigno Malo school.
He was one of the participants along with Cuenca natives Vicente Tello, Humberto Aguirre and Plaucio García (+). This is how wrestling began in Azuay in 1962.
Incursion into judo
A year later, the Japanese Mitsuru Koizumi arrived in Cuenca. He took out an advertisement that taught judo courses in one of the Cuenca Tenis rooms. The term aroused curiosity in about 40 wrestling practitioners, among them Cisneros. When they arrived at the site, they began to train on some mats.
In the first classes they learned basic movements to avoid a bad fall.
Afterwards he had the satisfaction of hitting us all with tremendous blows. Of the 40, the next day there were only two of us. With Marcelo Vintimilla we put up with and endure all that atrocity.
When Koizumi had to leave the city, he entrusted them to continue the activity.
In my house I arranged some tatami mats and we broke down every day. Then I got them to take us in at the police station. They provided us with a quarter of land, we tempered some mats and started training. Some police officers joined. This is how judo began in Cuenca.
Korea Gym
The practice of judo began to spread. Cisneros created the ‘Jigoro Kano’ gym, in tribute to the creator of the martial art. Over the years, the arrival of karate, taekwondo and hapkido trainers expanded the options for practitioners.
Due to lack of resources, Cisneros sheltered the different teachers in his house, including the North American Gary Edson, in 1964. He was the first foreigner to teach a taekwondo course in Cuenca.
The influence of different martial arts made Cisneros rename his practice site ‘Korea Gym’. There, among others, Patricio Reinoso, Eddy Guerrero, Marco Chango, Eduardo Encalada, Alfonso Jiménez, René Sánchez, Alfredo Pérez, Rolando Vélez were trained.
Mental strength is important in martial art. Francisco Cisneros demonstrates this by breaking a couple of blocks with his fist.
Delta wings
In 1979 Cisneros traveled with a group of friends to Quito after learning that the director of Civil Aviation was donating kites to massify the Delta Wings. They received two kites and other equipment. At the beginning, Lieutenant Lenin Torres, a paratrooper, traveled to Cuenca weekly to instruct them.
My biggest accident was in the Cumbe parish. I crashed face first into the truck of Edmundo Jaramillo, a training colleague. I sank his cabin. I had a broken sternum, injured shoulders and neck. As I did not want to demoralize the rest of my friends, I continued walking, but as I was fainting, they took me to the IESS Hospital.
Training
Cisneros was a martial arts instructor in the Army for 17 years. At that time he became involved with officers who had German shepherd dogs.
With the support of General Juan Donoso he became a dog trainer. He began training Army dogs and had a kennel of German shepherds.
Captain Juan Donoso (I) and Francisco Cisneros trained German shepherd dogs for the Army for some years.
Caricatures
Since he was little, ‘Pancho’ noticed that he was very skilled at creating caricatures. He cultivated art with his schoolmates. Some did not see it as a compliment, but he did it anyway, even “under threat of hitting me.”
With more experience, he began to create caricatures based on the person’s first and last name. His work was published in the newspapers El Mercurio and El Tiempo.
Francisco Cisneros’ skill was captured in the city’s main print media.
Puppets
His father was a UNESCO scholarship recipient. During his time in Mexico he sent him a book on making marionettes and puppets. In 2020, due to the pandemic, he had to close the Puppet Theater that he created in Racar.
Today it has about 120 dolls in storage. He hopes to have public or private support to transmit his knowledge of art to new generations.
Report to Francisco Cisneros about the making of puppets. Courtesy video.
Family
Cisneros retired as a teacher at Manuel J. Calle School. On October 31, 2022, he suffered an accident. While traveling with some friends, the car crashed into a tree. He broke his ribs and Achilles heel.
Drawing, painting, reading, puppets helped him keep his spirits high. His wife, his daughter, his three grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren are the light of his eyes. He just turned 80 years old.
The phrase
“Joking and joy are important to maintain health. I wrote a real-life graphic humor book with my cartoons. With Vicente Tello we participated in Las Mascaradas on January 6th… I live off of jokes…”
2024-01-07 12:24:46
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