The famous artist María del Carmen Martínez-Villaseñor Barrasa, better known as Mari Carmen and her dolls, passed away on June 15, 2023 at her home in Puerto de la Cruz, on the Canary Island of Tenerife.
The ventriloquist died at the age of 80 due to a fall down the stairs, according to the first communications that reported the event. Days later, his only son, Miguel Almanzor, clarified for the Espejo Público program that he had fallen at the entrance to his house, probably due to a heart attack, but that they were still investigating him: “It seems that it was a heart attack and That’s where the fall came from, but it wasn’t on the stairs, it was at the door of his house, on the sidewalk. And he fell and there he stayed, alone.
Miguel Almanzor is the only child that ‘Mari Carmen and her dolls’ had. The young man was born as a result of the artist’s marriage to the lawyer Manuel Almanzor, whom he married through a civil ceremony on June 19, 1980 and divorced years later.
According to José Manuel Parada, one of the artist’s best friends, Almanzor is having a really bad time. The mother and son shared a very close and special relationship. In an interview that Mari Carmen gave to La Razón, she explained that she felt very lucky to have a son like hers: “He is unique. We are partners in everything. Very accomplices. We go hand in hand even in tasks that sometimes do not belong to the mother or the son. We love each other and we need each other.” She also spoke on another occasion about her “little” sense of humor, something that amused her and made her immensely happy.
Almost a week after the event, Miguel Almanzor has appeared before the media at the exit of the artist’s funeral chapel to thank the entire country for the love and respect with which they have treated the death of his mother.
With a serious face, but without breaking down, the man has declared that he had never experienced the death of such a close relative and that he is clear that the worst is yet to come: “You get up, you go from the most absolute sadness and impotence to joy because I feel my mother with me, I feel the best version of my mother with me, that Mari Carmen from the 80s or even inside. You feel the young Mari Carmen by my side at all times.”
With a bit of shame, but without fear, Almanzor has shared with the journalists present that he is receiving small signs from his mother from beyond: “My mother always told me that when she left, she should be very aware of the signs and I can tell you to assure me that I have received signals from all sides, but I do not want to specify what they are”.
The artist’s son has responded to the question of how he would like his mother to be remembered clearly: “In her best moment. Mari Carmen, with whom it was very easy to work, who became so famous and well-known, not her Mari Carmen who got older”.
