Bullfighting could be banned in Mexico City, local parliament consulted

Bullfighting continues to unleash passions. In Mexico City, where it has been present for five centuries, it could be banned following an animal welfare proposal tabled in the local government parliament.

The debate is not new in the Mexican capital which houses the largest arenas in the world, which can accommodate 50,000 spectators. But this is the first time the local parliament has had to vote on a ban. After the approval of the text in Committee in December, the Assembly of the State of Mexico must decide soon in plenary.

“Free Thought”

To defend bullfighting, aficionados and professionals equate their cause with that of the LGBTIQ+ community or supporters of the decriminalization of abortion, arguing that the era is one of “respect for minorities” and “free thought”.

In this context “where does this word forbid come from? “Asks AFP Rafael Cué, columnist and member of Mexican Bullfighting, an association that brings together aficionados, bullfighters, breeders and bullfighting companies. One of the strongholds of bullfighting in Latin America, Mexico City is also a progressive city, a pioneer in the country on issues such as gay marriage, abortion and animal welfare.

Doubtful amalgams

Mexican bullfighting thus openly raises the question of whether “public powers” ​​can impose “moral choices of a group of society on the rest of the citizens”. “We could thus prohibit the voluntary termination of pregnancy or homosexual marriage”, defends the association in a press release.

According to her, initiatives that seek to ban shows with animals receiving abuse must be debated from the point of view of “liberties” and not “tastes, fashions or political correctness”.

Animal abuse

The promoter of the text in favor of the ban, the local left-wing deputy Jorge Gaviño, denounces an argument which considers that “animals are things” and ignores the concepts of “diffuse law” where acts of animal abuse in public spaces have an impact on members of society.

“It touches me indirectly when you kill or injure a ‘sensitive’ animal in a public space for entertainment. This affects my life in society, so I have the obligation and the right to act against this supposed right of a minority third party, ”he underlines.

Major economic weight

Four Mexican states prohibit bullfighting: Sonora, Coahuila (north), Guerrero (south) and Quintana Roo (southeast). Seven others, conversely, have protected it as cultural heritage.

The bullfighting world insists on the economic weight of this activity in Mexico City: in 2018, before the pandemic, bullfighting generated $343 million in revenue, with 80,000 direct jobs and 146,000 indirect jobs, according to sector figures confirmed by the Secretariat to Agriculture.

A debate in several Latin American countries

But for the deputy Gaviño, who affirms that “we can scientifically prove” that animals suffer during bullfights, it is unacceptable that economic arguments slow down the ban. The debate around bullfights is also open in other Latin American countries with a bullfighting tradition. In Venezuela, where judges recently banned bullfights in two states, a law is being debated to ban shows that abuse animals.

In June 2020, the city of Bogota decided to ban the abuse and death of animals during bullfights. Conversely, in Peru, which has more arenas than football fields, the Supreme Court rejected their ban the same year.