We’ve a slightly different approach to things with this post. Below is the script of a report we did for Ireland’s state broadcaster RTÉ on the recent return of bullfighting to Bogotá. So for English-language learners, you can listen to the report on this link, http://www.rte.ie/news/player/world-report/2017/0312/ (from 22 minutes 20 seconds), while following the script. (It was broadcast a few weeks later than initially intended in case you’re wondering!):
«For many, it’s no more than antiquated barbarism, a throwback to a time they thought their city was rapidly moving away from.
Some, however, see it as an expression of culture, a test of skill and daring with a proud history in Bogotá.
And for others still, it’s a mere distraction of an event, no matter how you view it. Bogotá, nay Colombia as a whole, has far greater things to be concerned about.
Image from Twitter.
These are basically the three perspectives you’ll find as bullfighting has made its return to the Colombian capital after a four-year absence.
It’s safe to say the majority of Bogotanos would have preferred if it had stayed out of bounds.
Even the man on whose watch it returned, city mayor Enrique Peñalosa, has described it as «a cruel spectacle and not part of a civilized society.» If he had had his way, the ban, brought in by his predecessor Gustavo Petro in 2012, would have stayed put.
A Constitutional Court ruling, however, found that the prohibition of bullfighting violated many Colombian laws as well as previous court findings that recognise bullfighting as «human artistic expression». Thus, Mayor Peñalosa’s hands are tied, for now.
Legalities aside, vociferous animal rights groups have been making their opposition known in weekly protests at each bullfight renewal, protests that at times matched the intensity of what was happening inside the ring, but not quite to the bloodletting level (last week’s unrelated bomb blast in the vicinity aside).
For these protesters, which include former mayor Gustavo Petro, to describe bullfighting as culture or sport is disingenuous in the extreme. For them it’s no more than ‘outright torture’ towards innocent bulls that have been cruelly baited. As far as they are concerned, no city or country looking forward to a brighter future should take such a retrograde step.
As Natalia Parra, one of the protest leaders, puts it: «We are talking about peace in the country and in the meantime, there are people who get together to slowly kill an animal as if we are still in the 18th century.»
This juxtaposition of the return of bullfighting with the recent peace agreement signed between the government and Farc rebels — the arduous ending of one, long bloody period, the almost casual reintroduction of another — is something that bullfighting aficionados find almost laughable.
«Lethargic and irrational» is how Alejandro Usma, a member of pro-bullfighting group ‘Asotauro’ describes those involved in this current furore. Pointing to the ongoing issue of children dying of starvation in north-east Colombia, Usma says it’s a sad state of affairs where the life of an animal is given more value and attention than that of a child dying of hunger, with the government not even appearing to care.
Nonetheless, with the law behind the bullfighters, momentarily as it may be, they have no intention of bowing to popular demand and abandoning what they view as an integral part of their culture.
Indeed, if any one questioned the bottle the bullfighters and their supporters have to defend their right to carry out their practice, this was answered with long-running hunger strikes outside Bogotá’s Santamaria bullring throughout much of the period of the ban.
A minority in the city they were back then and still are today, but they certainly have the bull by the horns and are in control once again.
Yet, leaving to one side the warring parties in this debate, we have what could be described as, given the approximately 8 million Bogotá residents, a somewhat indifferent silent majority.
OK, in this group we’re likely to find more siding with the anti-bullfighting brigade, but it’s not something they’re getting up in arms about.
There are a few things at play here.
Firstly, in a city with a myriad of problems, vast inequality being chief among them, ‘to bullfight or not to bullfight’ is a question that doesn’t top the priority list.
Plus, at a regional level, in rural-focused cities and towns, it’s still commonplace to find bullfighting and other blood sports such as cockfighting and coleo — a rodeo-style event where horseback riders chase cattle with the aim of tripping them.
So the many who relocate to the capital from the provinces tend to be somewhat more lenient towards such practices compared to Bogotá natives.
For example Diego Ponce from the bullfighting stronghold of Manizales but now living and working in the capital talks of the fond memories of days out at the bullring, spending them with family and friends in a fun and friendly environment.
While he has no strong desire to attend bullfighting in Bogotá where, as he puts it, «it’s not really part of the culture here», he wouldn’t like to see it banned outright.
What’s more, some are quick to point to what they see as the protesters double standards: deploring the torture and ultimate death of the bulls while munching on a beef burger. Their next meal might even be coming directly from the ring.
Echoing Alejandro Usma’s ‘irrational country’ remark, bullfight attendee and Bogotá native Fernando Abril wryly notes that if you replaced the bulls with the city’s homeless, the protests would abate.
Be that as it may, it looks like it’s just a case of playing for time for those opposed to bullfighting to get their way. For the same court that ordered its reintroduction to Bogotá has now asked congress to come up with new legislation that would outlaw the practice and other similar events, all under the ‘mistreatment of animals’ banner.
So with the first four-week season now over since its controversial comeback, it’s far from certain that Bogotá’s Santamaria bullring will continue to hear chants of ‘ole, ole’ into the foreseeable future.
The biggest threat to the bullfighters’ survival in Colombia isn’t from the irate black beast in the ring, but rather the Republic’s lawmakers. They might just be about to give this spectacle a flesh wound that there’s no coming back from.»
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