“Ready for legal war; we are not afraid”

Sanjuana Martínez

La Jornada newspaper
Sunday, April 20, 2025, p. 9

We are ready for legal war. We are not afraidsays activist Sofía Morín de Mexico without bullfightingat a month after the approval of the Bloodless Bulls and the judicial struggle for the defense of the bullfights in favor of the brave party.

And the fight has just begun. Bullfights insist: The blood of bulls is necessarywhile the bullfighter Joselito Adame promoted an amparo this week to defend bullfights with injuries and the death of the animal.

It is the first, and they will probably come more. That is why Sofia, one of the promoters of the approved initiative, warns that activists will be presented as Interested third parties In the trial and surely the issue reaches the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN).

Mexico is ready to end bullfighting. It is a very complicated struggle because in this country we have the most powerful bullfights in the world, the most powerful entrepreneurs. There are many in the Judiciary, in the Legislative. The challenge is to end influences and corruption trafficsays Morín in an interview with The day. She is a representative of the Mexico without bullfighting with 80 organizations nationwide.

Explains that they are happy because The power of society could morebut it is also aware that the new bullfights without violence were not accepted. We know that bullfights are not going to make any show with these characteristics because for them the most important is blood and death. ”

And, indeed, the National Association of Bull Matters, Steers, Rejoneadores and Similar, already issued a statement to express its disagreement:

The approved reforms imply a drastic transformation that eliminates the three thirds that give life to bullfighting art: the third of rods, flags and supreme fate. Without these elements, bullfighting loses its depth and becomes a pantomime, stripping it of its authenticitysaid Francisco Doddoli, president of the association.

Long fight

Sofía Morín regrets that the government has not dared to take the passage of bullring. “They modified our citizen initiative, which sought the prohibition of the Brava party. I insist, we have the arguments until today.

“It is clear that the bullfights could never prove the entire economy they were talking about, it is clear that the prohibition is a constitutional measure. And we do not agree that the fight of roosters has been taken out, it is an activity where the animal is hurt during a show.

The government sought a midpoint. It is a bittersweet taste that we have left. Telling the government that we are put to collaborate with them to defend this law, is what we have left. We have to protect what was already earnedemphasizes, and explains that the new norm did not really approve the bullfights without violence.

It isn’t true. Violence continues because the animal continues to violate. What stopped is blood and death. It is the abolition of bullfighting with blood and death.

That is why he warns that they continue to fight in the country for the prohibition of bullfights. He reveals that they already achieved it in Michoacán and go for the State of Mexico, Morelos, Tamaulipas and Querétaro.

He says that last year they presented a preferential citizen initiative that was endorsed by the Electoral Institute. 27 thousand 442 signatures and In theory, he must have been voted 45 days. The Commission of Constitutional Points and Citizen Initiatives was obliged to vote on the issue. The opinion was going to come out by supporting our initiative.

However, he says that the deputy of Morena Alberto Vanegas presented an appeal before the Constitutional Chamber of Mexico City asking if there were human rights violations and the room unfounded, attributing powers that he does not have, he ordered him to stop this initiative to Congress.

They argue that the human rights of people who like bulls are being violated; They say that the right to culture is being violated, to freedom of work.

But he explains that this issue was already resolved in the Court many years ago, in the amparo in revision 163/2018 of the first SCJN room with Arturo Zaldívar, who created the project of this sentence to determine before a prohibition of the fights of roosters in Veracruz, that these and the bullfights are not violating the human right of culture, freedom of work or property.

The family you do

One of the defenders of the Fiesta Brava is the deputy of Morena and union leader Pedro Hazes and his family, owners of Lidia bull cattle: “Curiously, the Familia Hacos has the only two bulls of Lidia bulls in Mexico City. In theory, they argue that it is because of the economic issue, but the family has not put a bull of lidia to the place of Mexico in more than 10 years. We know why.

▲ Before the protests, the CDMX Congress has already banned the death of the animal in the square.Photo The day

We know what you do and Ricardo Monreal try to declare bullfights as cultural heritage of Mexico and thus shield the brave party.

In Mexico City, son Pedro Hazes Lago, deputy for Morena, has also fought the prohibition of runs: “It was the one who sent the deputy of Morena Alberto Vanegas to protect the brave party in the city when he does not even leave money, we have tried it 30 thousand times, no longer leaves jobs. The Plaza Mexico leaves 453 works that, in addition, are secondary because in the end they continue to live on the concert Bulls

We want to ask Pedro done to play clean, although we know he will not, it is a request in the air, to let democracy decide. This issue is already legal. If the Lord does not like the Constitution, he does not like sentences, because he renounces being a deputy because they, in theory, should be to respect the law. If it does not seem to him, he returns to be a novillero (he was) and then bullfighter.

He says that bulls raised in Mexico City are sent to other states, but for the capital It is not a business. In Spain, livestocks have already declared that they have more lost than profits. And not all bulls of fighting are for the square, but for consumption, as reproduction stallions. According to Pedro you do only 8 percent are used for runs, they not only live from that.

And he adds: “Actually, killing bulls is a hobbyIt is a sadistic passion. Pedro Hazes grew in that environment, is his fun. He grew up in the culture of bullfighting and, definitely, will defend it even if it is not business. Protect your economic interests as personal tastes. It is a shame for our society, any politician who is bullfight is a shame. He has defended bullfighting, putting himself above the head of Government Clara Brugada and President Claudia Sheinbaum. ”

Legal arguments instead of subjectivity

Activists are no longer attending Subjective topics As if bullfights are culture or art: That debate will never be exhausted. It is now a merely legal issue. The Constitution, in its article 4, with the reform made by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says that animal abuse is prohibited. He explains that in the constitution of Mexico City, in article 3 section B, it is recognized that animals are beings feeling protection.

The group won a judgment of the fourth circuit court in administrative matters, where it is supported that bullfights violate the Official Mexican Standard 033, which are the methods to kill animals and also the Federal Animal Health Law, specifically article 23.

Right now we are in execution of this sentence. We want the law to be applied. We already have another judgment of the fifth district court that says that bullfights violate the human right to a healthy environment and that is why he ordered the mayor of Benito Juárez that bulls with blood could no longer be made. They could no longer give permits where the animal was killed in the run.

Morín reveals that they have encountered many obstacles of corruption and influence peddling: If bulls have been maintained today, it is because there is a privileged sector of people who protect them and not because they leave money. Bulls is where they can go to show off. For them, it is something that gives social status. There is a mixture, but it is something else for the rich.

He affirms that the new strategy of the bullfighters is to say that the Brava party represents the original peoples, but points out that the first bullfight that was made in Mexico City was when Hernán Cortés wanted to celebrate the fall of Tenochtitlán, in a bullring that was where the building of the Supreme Court is now located.

Sofia Morín reiterates that the death of the bull is out of the law and is very painful for the animal: Now there is the possibility that the Fiesta Brava disappears in Mexico. Nothing is forever. We dream of an animal abuse, or violence towards anyone.