Aahana Swrup
Roger Ross Williams’ drama film ‘Cassandro’ depicts the story of Saúl Armendáriz, a gay luchador, who becomes a pioneer for the queer community within the Mexican wrestling sport during his career. The film follows Saúl from his early wrestling days as the designated loser, “El Topo,” to his acquaintance with fellow lucha libre wrestler, Sabrina, which helps him develop his new exótico persona, “Cassandro.” After finding his new stage persona, Saúl’s career launches into success as his flamboyant showmanship and his hard-earned skill impress millions of fans.
Alongside Saúl’s professional life as Cassandro, the film also focuses on the wrestler’s personal life and highlights the bond he shared with his mother, Yocasta. Within the narrative, Saúl’s contrasting, contentious relationship with his father, following Eduardo’s abandonment and rejection of his son, plays a significant role in his overall storyline. Therefore, given the film’s biographical nature, viewers must be curious to know more about the real-life Armendáriz’s father.
Sabas Isidro Galindo is Close With His Son Today
Depicted in the film, ‘Cassandro,’ as an estranged father with another family, Robert Salas’s character Eduardo is only based on Armendáriz’s real-life father, Sabas Isidro Galindo. Eduardo’s real-life counterpart prefers to live a private life and can seldom be found in the media’s eye. As such, not much is known about the Juárez-raised man and his personal life aside from his relationship with Armendáriz— something that the Mexican wrestler discusses in interviews from time to time.
In The New Yorker’s 2014 article, ‘The Man Without a Mask,’ by William Finnegan, Saúl “Cassandro” Armendáriz briefly touched upon Sabas’ influence over his childhood. Describing his father as a machista — a man who believes women to be inferior to men, Armendáriz recalled how Sabas was an abusive husband to Armendáriz’s mother, Maria, and never wanted a gay son. Eventually, when Armendáriz was thirteen, Sabas’ unhealthy familial relationships led to his divorce from Maria sometime around 1983. Consequently, Armendáriz and Sabas fell out of touch for a while.
Nevertheless, unlike Saúl’s on-screen relationship with Eduardo, which ends with the former cutting ties with his father for the better, Armendáriz and Sabas’ real-life relationship charted a different path. Although the father-son duo have experienced more than their share of ups and downs, they have found a way to reunite and become integral parts of each other’s lives. In the same Finnegan article, Sabas commented on his relationship with Armendáriz. “It was difficult for me to see that he [Armendáriz] was gay,” said Armendáriz’s father. “Machismo—you know. That was why we didn’t talk. But now I accept him, thank God. And we talk all the time.”
As such, Armendáriz’s and Sabas’ relationship remains mended these days, with the father finally accepting his son for who he is. Still, unlike Eduardo’s fictional character, Sabas is not a fan of lucha libre and thus rarely ever seen Armendáriz/Cassandro’s matches. Furthermore, on the few rare occasions that he has done so in the past, it was only on TV. Aside from the same, Sabas recently underwent a personal tragedy after losing his second wife, Guillermina Yolanda Villalobos Galindo, who passed away on March 12, 2020. The couple had one daughter, Yoly Davila, and two sons, Javier Juarez and Eduardo Davila, who both served as Yolanda’s pallbearers alongside Sabas and other family members.
Since, as far as we can tell, Sabas himself is not on social media, the public only ever gets updates on the man through his son’s social channels. Armendáriz occasionally shares photos of him with Sabas on his Instagram, appreciating how far they have come as a family. In his posts, fans can see the genuine joy Armendáriz expresses at having his father back in his life. In 2018, the father-son duo celebrated their seemingly shared birthday together in El Paso, Texas, where Sabas resides, to remain close to Armendáriz and his other children.
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