Colombia’s president signs bill to ban bullfighting in the South American country

BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AP) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Monday signed a invoice that bans bullfights within the South American nation, additional lowering the quick checklist of countries world wide the place the centuries-old custom continues to be authorized.

Petro signed it in entrance of a whole bunch of animal rights activists throughout a ceremony held in Bogota’s bullring, after a supporter in a bull costume handed him a duplicate of the laws.

“We can’t inform the world that killing residing and sentient beings for leisure is tradition,” Petro stated in a speech after signing the invoice. “That type of tradition of killing an animal for leisure would additionally lead us to killing human beings for leisure, as a result of we’re additionally animals.”

The bullfighting ban was accredited by Colombia’s Congress in Could, after months of heated debates.

The invoice calls on the federal government to utterly ban bullfights throughout the nation by 2027, and orders the federal government to show greater than a dozen bullrings into cultural and sporting venues.

Bullfights have been held in Colombia since Spanish colonial occasions. However the reputation of the game has declined in recent times as views on animal rights modified.

Bullfighting aficionados in Colombia argue the ban violates the rights of minorities to specific their cultural heritage. They add that it additionally jeopardizes the livelihoods of those that make a residing from bullfighting, equivalent to matadors, occasion promoters, retailers and ranchers who concentrate on breeding the aggressive and muscular animals utilized in bullfights.

On Monday, professional bullfighting teams launched a social media marketing campaign in assist of the custom, saying the invoice was accredited with out the assist of Colombia’s labor ministry. Supporters have additionally stated they are going to problem the legislation in Colombia’s Constitutional Court docket.

Solely seven nations now enable bullfights: Spain, France, Portugal, Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru. Nonetheless, some municipal and regional governments inside these nations have imposed native bans.

Petro has been an opponent of bullfights since he was Bogota’s mayor. In 2012, he repealed a metropolis contract that allowed bullfighting occasion promoters to make use of town’s bullfighting area.

Animal rights activists in Colombia had been lobbying Congress to ban bullfights for 20 years, usually dropping key votes by slender margins. However in Could, they lastly pushed the ban by means of with the assistance of legislators from Petro’s Historic Pact Occasion and with votes from some members of centrist and conservative events.

“For a few years we’ve got staged protests, we’ve got lobbied congress and we’ve got tried to win the hearts of Colombia’s individuals,” stated Chucho Merchan, a vegan activist and musician who spoke at Monday’s occasion. “In order that on this nation that has a lot violence, we may give an instance that it’s doable to evolve in the direction of a world with extra justice, that is freed from cruelty.”