Ecuadorian central bank official gored at bullfight

Quito, July 18 (IANS/EFE) Pedro Delgado, chairman of the board of the Ecuadorian Central Bank and a cousin of President Rafael Correa, was admitted to hospital after being gored during a "novillada" - a bullfight with young bulls - on a ranch that was foreclosed by the state, media reports said.

Delgado is the head of the CFN-AGD-No More Impunity Trusteeship, which manages companies and properties that were taken over by the state following the 1999 banking crisis.

One such property is the Hacienda El Rosario, where this Saturday Delgado was gored during tryouts of young bulls to test their fighting spirit.

The ranch belonged to Alejandro Penafiel, former owner of the now-defunct savings and loan Banco de Prestamos, the daily El Comercio said.

Delgado was fighting the young bulls during festivities in the town of Machachi, which he had said were aimed at "reactivating tourism", and there he suffered a wound that included a fractured ankle, a Central Bank spokesperson told EFE.

The Central Bank official is hospitalized and has undergone surgery, the spokesperson said.

--IANS/EFE

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