Court confirms suspension of bullfights in Plaza Mexico City
The appeal against the provisional suspension was filed by the board of directors of the Plaza Mexico, which was added to another challenge also filed by the capital city government.
A federal court upheld the provisional suspension that stopped the celebration of bullfights in the Monumental Plaza de Toros Mexico. This Wednesday, in a session of the Twenty-Second Collegiate Court in Administrative Matters of Mexico City, two of the magistrates voted against the project presented by Rosa Iliana Noriega Perez, who proposed to revoke the suspension granted by the First District Judge in the matter, Jonathan Bass Herrera.
"We do not say that mistreatment is good, that it is permitted or that it is Constitutional, but there must be a link between the right that is intended to be protected with the suspension, with the act that we are going to suspend", said the magistrate rapporteur.
The magistrate and the secretary acting as a magistrate that makes up the Court stated that, in their opinion, the provisional suspension issued against the Mexico Bullring was correct because, they said, the right to a healthy environment was privileged. Since they did not obtain a majority, the provisional suspension was confirmed and therefore the resolution must contain the majority criterion.
The appeal against the provisional suspension was filed by the board of directors of Plaza Mexico, which joined another appeal also filed by the capital's government. Just yesterday the Collegiate notified the decision to admit the appeal for processing so Judge Bass Herrera ordered to suspend the processing of the Amparo trial until the Collegiate issued its resolution.
With the decision adopted this Wednesday, once the judge is notified, the process of the Amparo trial must continue and the incidental hearing may be held in which the judge will decide whether or not to maintain the suspension definitively to stop bullfighting in the Mexico City until he resolves the merits of the Amparo.
The injunction was filed by the civil organization Justicia Justa (Fair Justice) under the argument that, in authorizing the bullfighting shows, the authorities of the capital omitted to "comply with and observe" the Law for the Integral Reconstruction of Mexico City and the Law for the Access of Women to a Life Free of Violence, also applicable in the capital.
In its lawsuit, the organization pointed out that in the bullfighting shows the bulls are given a "degrading treatment" and the right of the citizens to a healthy environment is violated.
Huamantlada: Bullfighting in Mexico
Bullfighting passion crosses borders, and in Mexico, there is a town where bullfights and the running of the bulls are the hallmarks of patron saint fiestas in the purest Spanish style. It is the "Huamantlada" in the central state of Tlaxcala. The third fireworks mark the beginning of the Huamantlada. It is 11 a.m. (16.00 GMT) and under the powerful rays of the sun 17 caste bulls take to the streets before the curious gaze of thousands of locals and visitors. They have been waiting for up to two hours for the beginning of this spectacle.
"We arrived very early to set aside place because it is a party where thousands of people congregate. We got an excellent place to enjoy this brave party," says to Efe Orlando Nava, who arrived in the morning with his wife and two daughters.
About 100,000 people come to this event dressed for the occasion: red handkerchief tied to the neck, waist girdle, and the most daring do not hesitate to wear hats with horns and all kinds of accessories. In a closed circuit of 17 streets is carried out the traditional street race with a bull in each street. Professionals from the bullfighting world and amateurs take advantage of this event to "make their pins" in the world of bullfighting.
In general, the participants who are at the foot of the street seek to run in front of the brave bull, touch it, or, with improvised hoods, bullfight it. Others see the bulls "from behind the barrier". Minutes before the explosion of the first firecracker Gerardo, originally from Puebla, says that every year, for the last five years, he comes to the Huamantlada home of a "compadre" to see the show.
There is no lack of the reckless one who, with a few too many drinks, jumps into the "street ring" pretending to be a first-rate matador. The result is, at best, minor injuries and contusions; at worst, death. For this, there are lists in the vicinity of the streets of downtown Huamantla of 40 ambulances, 100 paramedics, 20 doctors, and the orthopedic service of Huamantla Hospital on alert with a specialized surgeon.
This year, nine people between the ages of 13 and 60 have been reported injured, one of them seriously, with a goring in the thorax. "We recommend that they do not enter the circuit in an ethylic state," says Cristian Salazar, who has been part of the Huamantlada for 10 years as a supporting caporal. Its function is to release the bull, keep it at the end and return it to the livestock.
His love for bulls made him an active part of this show. Two years ago he suffered a goring of which he still has scars. "When I was holding the bull it defeated me in the race and reached me and the horn entered, in the left leg. It was a goring of 15 centimeters high, 8 internal points and 15 external ones" he says. A stuffed bull in the middle of the street attracts the attention of visitors, who do not hesitate to immortalize the moment.
"Listening to many tourists we decided to build a bull and present it in the streets representing the Huamantlada so that people can take pictures without the risk of being gored, an accident" declares Elizabeth Zapata Ángeles, owner of the stuffed bull. In the Huamantlada, improvised mockers along the streets, platforms made sometimes by the same neighbors or boards that serve as seats, prove every year that miracles exist.
August, no doubt, is for those fortunate enough to live or have venues on the streets of the circuit. Depending on the place, whether it is on the street, on the roof of a house, or on the balcony or windows, the price to see the show ranges from 50 to 200 pesos (two to 10 dollars). The origin of the Huamantlada goes back to 1954 when Raúl González, a cattleman from Tlaxcala, traveled to Spain together with a matador and visited the running of the bulls of Pamplona in San Fermín. Gonzalez began this tradition in Huamantla on his return.
At first, the bulls ran through the streets to the Plaza de Toros, where hours later the bullfight was held. Given the massification of the event, in 1967 it was established that the running of the bulls was not the same as those of the bullfight. From that moment on, the so-called "Pamplonada" is called "Huamantlada". The bullfighting tradition came to Tlaxcala with the Spaniards. It is the smallest state in Mexico and the one with the most cattle ranches, with 48 in total, in addition to 6 bullfighting schools that drive the passion for the fiesta.
