Antonio Rivero Estévez, better known as Chiquito de la Calzada de Tenerife, has died at the age of 87. Rivero had become a character much loved by Tenerife residents since he began to faithfully imitate the remembered artist from Malaga, for whom he had special admiration.
Rivero began following the Andalusian comedian since he became famous, back in 1995; Multiplying his success thanks to his appearance on television, so did the fame of the Tenerife artist, who became essential at every party on the islands, especially at the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival.
The son of a Brazilian woman, Rivero has died due to the consequences of an illness that he had been carrying for years, which also made him abandon his performances, which are common at any time on the streets of Santa Cruz. His neighbors will miss him, since he was already a symbol of joy in the town.
As his friend Santiago Díaz tells the Tenerife newspaper Diario de Avisos, Rivero was “a very loved person” and spent his time on the street, “telling his jokes half disguised” and brightening the days of everyone he passed by. on his side.
“Every year he made a couple of new shirts for the carnivals,” recalls Díaz, “And sometimes,” he says, laughing, “we had to tell him: ‘Antonio, don’t always tell the same jokes.'”
A charisma, talent and originality that made him a symbol of the chicharrera party and the best imitator of Gregorio Esteban Sánchez Fernández, the true Chiquito de la Calzada. So much so that he even gave the character his own style. “They told him that he looked alike -physically-. He told jokes about him imitating Chiquito. He walked down the street doing the character. He walked the same way,” says Díaz.
Its light has gone out, and in just a few days the first Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival that you will not be able to see will begin. An event that begins next January 12 and whose attendees will surely have Antonio Rivero very present while they dance in the streets.
