In Mexico City, the Plaza de Toros, the largest arena in the world with its 48,000 seats, may soon be transformed into a museum, like the Colosseum in Rome. La Pamplonada scheduled for this Saturday, July 2, a popular bull run around the bullring (similar to the feast in Pamplona, Spain), will not take place. On June 10, a Mexican judge extended the suspension of bullfights pronounced on May 27.
This court decision follows an action taken by the association Justicia Justa on the basis of an article of the Constitution of the capital which guarantees the “right to a healthy environment” for any animal. The Supreme Court of Mexico has already recognized the right of animals not to suffer. For Mariana Ruiz, lawyer at Justicia Justa, this right concerns “all animals, without distinction” : “There is no differentiating a dog from a bull in the animal hierarchy. » Two years ago, cockfighting, a veritable popular tradition in the country, was banned.
A well-established tradition among curators
In Mexico, bullfighting provides nearly 80,000 jobs and its economy generates 320 million euros per year. It is a tradition well anchored in conservative circles, influenced by the colonial heritage of the conquest of Mexico by the Spanish Crown in the 16th century.
Supporters of bullfighting, such as the manager of the Plaza de Toros, Mario Zulaica, have already counterattacked on the legal level: “This is a suspension, not a ban, emphasizes the former matador. We have put forward labor law and commercial law to defend our case. Many families remain inactive because of this trial. Moreover, the environmental argument does not hold: in Mexico, there are 167,000 hectares of reserves where bulls live. Only 8% is intended for bullfighting. To put an end to this tradition is also to put an end to an entire ecosystem where we keep this species alive. »
Aficionados of the “fiesta brava” are in shock. “Animal abuse does exist.sighs Aaron Flores, subscriber to Plaza Mexico. But bullfighting is art, passion, reflection, philosophy, an awareness of the world and the desire to take even better care of it. »
“We are animals ourselves”
With this debate, a whole section of Mexican cultural tradition is called into question in a city that thinks more and more about animal rights. activist and “defender of the rights of the living world”Marie-Pia is satisfied that the bulls are no longer executed for the pleasure of the spectators: “It is time for Mexico to get rid of this cultural heritage of the Spanish colony. Mexicans have a culture rich enough to have fun other than watching a bull get killed in bullring. We are animals ourselves. »
Five of Mexico’s 32 states have outlawed bull killings, a practice already fallen into disuse in most of them.