World’s Biggest Bullring: Mexico City Bans Killing of Bulls

MEXICO CITY — Lawmakers in Mexico City, which boasts the world’s largest bullring, voted on Tuesday to outlaw bullfights in which animals are killed or wounded, as opponents and supporters of bullfighting held rival protests.

The move, which was championed by the capital city’s mayor, Clara Brugada, seeks a path to “violence-free” bullfighting events.

Mexico City cannot “embrace cruelty as a spectacle, much less the long pain and death of an animal for entertainment,” Brugada said last week.

The vote also prohibits the use of sharp objects such as swords, but matadors will still be able to use capes and muletas — sticks with red cloth draped from them.

The law, which also restricts bullfights to 15 minutes for each animal, was passed by a vote of 61 in favor and one against, the capital’s legislature said in a statement.

Last week, Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum voiced her support for the initiative, which she described as a “good solution” covering the need to maintain jobs in the bullfighting industry, but still adhering to a constitutional reform banning animal abuse.

Bullfighting promoters, however, opposed the ban, arguing that it would jeopardize a deep-rooted cultural tradition.

Riot police intervened to break up scuffles involving behind rival demonstrators near the legislature.

Mexico City’s bullfighting is a stronghold and at its center is the Plaza de Toros, which can hold well over 40,000 people.

But the capital is also viewed as a progressive stronghold, and there have been years of court cases pitting bullfight supporters against animal-rights activists, who celebrated the ban on wounding the animals.

Anton Aguilar, executive director of Humane World for Animals Mexico, considered it “an important step toward putting an end to the torment and killings of animals for entertainment.”

But at the same time, he said, “it’s important also to acknowledge that a bull event without violence doesn’t mean without suffering, as bulls will still undergo a great deal of stress that is completely avoidable.”

Bullfighting — which was imported by Spanish conquistadors centuries ago — has been restricted by several of Mexico’s 32 states.

Bullfighters cite the economic worth of the industry, which provided 80,000 jobs and some $50 million in revenue in 2023, according to figures from the Mexico City legislature.

Other countries where bullfighting events are held include Ecuador, Spain, France, Mexico, Peru, Portugal and Venezuela.

Last year Colombia approved a ban on bullfights that takes effect in 2027, and the killing of animals is banned in the Ecuadoran capital Quito.