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Americas|Mexico City Bans Traditional Bullfights for Violence-Free Option
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/world/americas/mexico-city-bans-traditional-bullfights.html
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Showdowns between men and bulls can still go on, but the animals can no longer be hurt or killed. Some bullfighting proponents said the law imperils an ancient tradition.
March 18, 2025, 9:10 p.m. ET
In the biggest bullfighting city in the largest bullfighting country in the world, Mexico City lawmakers overwhelmingly voted on Tuesday to ban traditional bullfighting — a move that was supported by Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, but was fiercely opposed by backers of the centuries-old custom.
The legislation, approved by a 61-1 vote, prohibits the injuring or killing of bulls for sport, in or outside of the arenas. It will allow for what proponents call “bullfighting without violence,” in which rules determine how long a bull can be in the ring and limit bullfighters to using only capes.
“My heart always beats for animal welfare,” said Xochitl Bravo Espinosa, a Mexico City legislator who helped spearhead the effort.
But Ms. Bravo Espinosa said that legislators tried to find a balance in which the bullfights could go on, albeit modified, so that people who made a living off the industry could continue working. She pointed to people who sell gear and food around La Plaza México, the largest bullfighting arena in the world, which opened in 1946 in the heart of the city and seats 42,000 people.
Bullfighting proponents denounced the legislation, protesting outside the Mexico City legislature’s building on Tuesday morning.
“This is just the beginning of a fight for our bullfighting,” four bullfighting groups said in a joint statement later in the day.
