Mexico – Mexico legislators voted massively on Tuesday to prohibit the fight against violent bull, triggering the indignation of aficionados and the celebration of animal rights defenders. The legislation, approved by a 61-1 vote, prohibits the murder of bulls and the use of sharp objects that could injure animals. It also sets deadlines over the duration of bulls in the ring, all part of an initiative nicknamed “Bullfighting without violence”.
The decision triggered angry demonstrations against supporters and matadors of Taurelle, some of whom tried to break a police barricade at the local congress. Some have wore panels that read “being a fan of the Fiesta Brava (bull) is not a crime, it is a point of pride”.
Animal rights activists and legislators who pushed the draft bill, however, walking on the seasles of the congress surrounded by police officers, pumping the fists and carrying plush bull dolls.
“It was either this or nothing,” said Sofía Morín, animal rights activist in the culture of the organization without torture, Mexico without bullfight, leading the initiative to modify the laws. “We prefer that because, without a doubt, it is a huge step in the protection of animals.”
The mayor of Mexico City, Clara Brugada, of the Morena ruling party, echoed the activists, claiming that the decision would transform the Mexican capital into a place “which respects animal rights.
Hector Vivas / Getty
Tuesday’s vote seemed to be an attempt to negotiate a compromise between two sides at the war of the debate after years of back and forth on practice.
The bullfight has long been a tradition and a hobby in Spain and in many Latin American nations, but it has been criticized for cruelty towards animals because the bulls are often killed at the end of the fight. Animal rights groups say that around 180,000 bulls are killed each year in bullfighting worldwide.
A bloodless form of attraction took root in California years ago, as Reported by CBS San Francisco In 2021. In this version, the bulls wear a velcro stamp on the back while the participants extremely dressed on horseback try to apizer posts with unleashed animals. Then, “fordos” on foot enters the ring to try to literally grasp the bull by the horns, but no blood is shed.
Tradition, which has long attracted large crowds in the arenas across Mexico, had a blow when a Mexico judge prohibited practice in June 2022, closing an arena which was presented as the largest ring of bulls in the world. The judge ruled that corridia violated the rights of city residents to a healthy environment without violence.
While animal rights defenders celebrated him as a victory and a stage towards the end of the bloody tradition, the inferiors said that he brought an economic blow to the city. The National Association of Breeders of Fighting Bulls in Mexico says that Corida generates 80,000 direct jobs and 146,000 indirect jobs across the country. Overall, the industry generates around $ 400 million a year.
It was the concern for many of the Protestant crowd against the end of violent battles, while others like Juan Pablo Piminta cried through a megaphone “It is an activity where the combat bull dies in arenas. It is its nature. … It is a beast”.
In 2023, the Supreme Court of Mexico overturned the ban without explanationallowing bullfighting arenas again to be flooded with fans of the so-called “Fiesta Brava”.
Tuesday, in a speech before the city congress, the legislator of the Green Party Jesús SESMA recognized that the decision would anger a segment of the population of the city.
“For families who feel frustrated today, we are here to say that no one has lost their job,” he said. “There was common ground to continue with these bullshit glasses, but now without violence.”
