Colombia's President Signs Bill To Ban Bullfighting
HuffPost
It further reduces the short list of nations around the world where the centuries-old tradition is still legal.
BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AP) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Monday signed a bill that bans bullfights in the South American country, further reducing the short list of nations around the world where the centuries-old tradition is still legal.
Petro signed it in front of hundreds of animal rights activists during a ceremony held in Bogota’s bullring, after a supporter in a bull costume handed him a copy of the legislation.
“We cannot tell the world that killing living and sentient beings for entertainment is culture,” Petro said in a speech after signing the bill. “That kind of culture of killing an animal for entertainment would also lead us to killing human beings for entertainment, because we are also animals.”
The bullfighting ban was approved by Colombia’s Congress in May, after months of heated debates. The bill calls on the government to completely ban bullfights across the nation by 2027, and orders the government to turn more than a dozen bullrings into cultural and sporting venues.
Bullfights have been held in Colombia since Spanish colonial times. But the popularity of the sport has declined in recent years as views on animal rights changed.
