Shouting "Long live the brave party!", dozens of people have demonstrated these days outside the Chamber of Deputies in Mexico City to peacefully support bullfights that have been banned in the country's capital since June 2022.
Enlivened by the musical band of the Monumental Plaza de Toros México and by a mariachi, bullfighting fans, ranchers, subordinates, some matadors, novilleros and bullfighting businessmen gathered early to await the arrival of the deputies from Ciudad de Mexico and deliver a petition for a bill to revoke the ban on bullfights.
The deputies have received 16 boxes (one for each city hall) containing 33,432 signatures from citizens who support the fiesta brava and other traditions in Mexico that are also considered illegal, such as cockfighting or charrería. Since February, the defenders of the bullfights have organized to gather the signatures in order to present the citizen's law initiative for a vote in the plenary session of the capital's Congress. The requirement that was needed for the proposal to reach the legislative plenary vote was a minimum of 15,000 signatures and the bullfighters managed to gather 34,000, which were delivered to the local Congress.
Far from a protest or demonstration, on the outskirts of the local Congress, in the heart of Mexico City, a party was held with music with cheers for the brava party and only a few whistles were heard when the deputy Jesús Sesma, who has been the main promoter of the prohibition, he arrived at the legislative compound and after climbing the steps, he discreetly turned around and smiled.
Minutes later, in a meeting room, the president of the Mexico City Congress, Fausto Manuel Zamorano Esparza, received Alejandra Arroyo, from the family that owns Plaza de Arroyo; Carlos Camacho, one of the members of the legal committee of Mexican Bullfighting and José Saborit, operational manager of that same body, which defends, promotes and preserves bullfights in Mexico. With the delivery of the signatures, the process will continue, first so that the signatures are endorsed and then the citizen initiative in favor of the bulls is promoted.
Federal judge Jonathan Bass granted the definitive suspension a few months ago after an injunction promoted by the Justicia Justa association to suspend bullfights in the Plaza México, considering them as "degrading" treatment of bulls. For this reason, the Monumental Plaza, which is the largest bullfighting venue in all of Latin America and which has a capacity for 50,000 people, closed its doors for bullfights.
José Saborit, director of Tauromaquia Mexicana, pointed out that this suspension of activities is a judicial issue and not a legislative issue, because through a civil association of two people and with an activist judge, an amparo was made in the Benito Juárez mayor's office (where Plaza México is located), but there is no ban on bullfighting in Mexico City. For Saborit, the situation is complex, because the pseudo-animalist discourse is more seductive for a group of politicians and they have taken bullfighting hostage. Saborit clarified that bullfighting is in favor of animal welfare, because thanks to it the breed of bulls exists, and he assures that the bullfighting is a sacrifice that is regulated and that he believes in regulations, but not in radical ones, because This leads to falling into clandestine actions.
The president of Tauromaquia Mexicana points out that there are more people who support the bullfighting party, and proof of this is that the number of signatures presented against bullfighting doubled.
Finally, Saborit says that it will be very difficult for the fiesta brava to disappear, since the uses and customs of a town cannot be governed by a desktop theme. "As long as there are men who stand in front of a bull, men who raise a bull and people who want to see that activity, bullfighting will continue," he concluded.
