Budo international Martial Arts Magazine Jul.-Aug. 2014 | Page 157

Kenpo
Two sister Arts
/ Two brother Masters
My first steps into the world of martial arts take me back
to the 60s. Born in Santiago, Chile, I started to take a keen
interest in the various Korean, Chinese and Japanese
styles when I was 15 years old and so I got in
contact with various practitioners of Judo,
Boxing, Karate, Tae-Kwon-Do, Farang Do
and Kenpo.
After visiting Argentina, Mexico,
Brazil, Panama, Peru and El Salvador
and having gone through different
experiences
with
various
practitioners, trainers and
masters, in 1976 I moved
permanently to Spain. At

that time, American Kenpo was almost totally unknown in
Europe. I was very lucky because in those years there was
a great enthusiasm, diffusion and development of all the
arts and sports of contact. So, in 1978, I started in the FullContact and Kick-Boxing by the hand of the greatest in
those days: Dominique Valera, the "European King"; Jan