Colombia: Gustavo Petro signs law banning bullfights in Colombia

He Colombian President Gustavo Petrosanctioned this Monday the law ‘No more olé’, which prohibits bullfights in the country and which will have a transition period of three years, to design a program of economic reconversion of those affected, which will come into effect in 2027.

Colombia was on the list of eight countries that allowed bullfighting as a legal activity, along with Spain, Portugal, France, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela, but now it is on the list of those that prohibit bullfighting.

“This project has had a series of enemies, powerful opponents, very powerful, who have stopped its development time and again.“said the head of state, a declared anti-bullfighting activist, after signing the law at an event that took place in the La Santamaría bullring in Bogotáwhich will be transformed into a space for culture, art and sports, among others.

The law was approved on May 28 in the final vote in the House of Representatives by 93 votes in favor, after 14 postponements. In addition to bullfights, bullfights with bulls on horseback, bullfights with young bulls, bullfights with young bulls and bullfights with young bulls were also prohibited.

Petro said that the law is one more step to advance in the defense of life, one of his Government’s flags, which he relates to the changes that must be made in countries to confront the climate change.

“A long fight does not have to be so long, because if this fight is not won, those who perish are not only animals, but also human beings.“, he said.

The president added: “We must avoid the climate catastrophe and we need to change our mentality to respect human or natural life, to respect different cultures, to respect life in general, trees, the planet, and we will have to change technologies and consumption and modes of production and social relations.”.

Petro explained that the ban on bullfights It will not be immediate and he recalled that there is a three-year transition to implement strategies that allow the bullfighting sector to be identified and a program to be designed. economic reconversion for families who make a living from activities related to this tradition.

From bullrings to cultural venues

Petro congratulated the different political groups and animal rights associations that made possible the law that put an end to what he has said on other occasions is “a spectacle of death”.

When he was mayor of Bogotá (2012-2015), Petro banned the use of the The Santamaria bullring for bullfights and has always defended the end of that activity.

Before the agreement was signed anti-bullfighting law Several musical groups performed at Santamaría to reaffirm that the stage will be transformed for artistic expressions.

For his part, the mayor of Bogotá, Carlos Fernando Galán, said that his administration will begin a process of transformation of the bullring.

Bullfights, traditionally popular in Colombiathey were losing followers and currently there are only bullfights in the Cañaveralejo squares in Cali and in the Plaza de Toros in Manizales, a city with the largest following in the country, as well as in some provincial arenas.