Locals saved his life by throwing stones at the tigers and beating them with sticks so they could free him from the animals’ clutches.
An ambulance rushed Mr Alvarez to hospital and medics managed to keep him alive with an emergency op. His arms were eaten by the tigers and couldn’t be saved.
Traumatic pictures of him sitting in a municipal ambulance while he was stabilised at the scene were published in local media in Guatemala, where the drama happened.
Today it emerged Cipriano had agreed to look after the 13 tigers just two months ago so he could feed his family.
Son Victor Hugo said that he normally used metal rods to remove the plates he gave the animals their food on.
He told local media his dad had been instructed to feed the tigers two days and leave them without food on the third.
Mr Alvarez is now in intensive care at Cuilapa Hospital in Santa Rosa, near the scene of the near-tragedy in the village of El Jocotillo.
Jimmy Navarro, the regional director of a government agency called Conap which is responsible for the conservation and sustainable use of Guatemala’s biological diversity, said that officials had confirmed 13 big cats, a llama and a camel were being kept in cages on waste ground in the village.
Local reports said the site was being used temporarily by the circus owners before a permanent move to more suitable accommodation in Belize.
The animals’ owners are said to have agreed to pay Mr Alvarez’s medical bills.