2024-10-12 08:07:00
The bullfighting sector has asked the Government to fire the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, for his attitude during the presentation of the 2022 and 2023 National Culture Awards. The Toro de Lidia Foundation has sent a letter to the President of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, in which he calls for his immediate dismissal due to the minister’s behavior, “the culmination of his sectarian politics”.
Both Urtasun and his Secretary of State, Jordi Martí Grau, decided not to applaud as the Kings presented the national bullfighting award to bullfighter Julián López “El Juli”. “Yesterday the Minister of Culture decided to showcase his anti-bullfighting dogmatism by not applauding the approval of the 2023 National Bullfighting Award, unlike what he did with the other winners, an unprecedented gesture of discrimination, an attitude incompatible with the elementary education of any citizen and inadmissible on an institutional level,” claims Victorino Martín, president of the Toro de Lidia foundation, in his letter.
“It is inconceivable that a Minister of Culture expressly positions himself against a relevant part of Spanish culture such as bullfighting, not respecting the obligations of his position which legally oblige him to protect, promote and spread bullfighting, which is more than sufficient reason. disqualify him as minister of all culture in our country,” insists Martín in the writing, published on Friday.
The bullfighter Julián López also criticized the minister’s attitude. “Mr. Minister, you are not applauding, I salute you. Bullfighting is inclusive, the culture belongs to the people, it does not belong to political ideologies and your obligation as a minister is to protect, defend and promote it above your personal tastes,” says “El Juli” in a message he posted on his social networks, accompanied by a video of the moment.
This National Awards gala, in which those for 2022 and 2023 were honored, will be the last in which a representative of the bull industry will be honored. In May, the Ministry of Culture began the final procedures to eliminate bullfighting from the catalog of these awards, refusing to nominate it for this year’s awards.
“I am the last bullfighter to receive this very important award and I am sure that sanity and responsibility will return, and that in the near future many colleagues will withdraw it from the hands of an educated minister who does not censor our profession,” adds “El Juli ” in his message.
The national bullfighting award was created in 2011 to add to those already awarded in Fine Arts, Theatre, Music or other artistic disciplines. A cash prize of 30,000 euros was established, 10,000 more, for example, than what the winners of the national literature prizes received.
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