Governor Eduardo Ramírez Aguilar asked the mayors of Chiapas, many of them from Morena, who own thoroughbred horses, Arabian, Andalusian and Friesian, which can cost more than a million pesos, to avoid promoting horse races and cockfights in the traditional festivities of their municipalities, as a measure to pacify the entity hit for more than three and a half years by the fight of two criminal organizations.
Ramírez Aguilar’s announcement caused anger among cockfighting fans, as they assured that the announcement he made is a repressive measure.
“The governor of the state is wrongly taking a repressive measure. An authoritarian measure, canceling all types of events related to fighting cocks, which affects many of us as fans, as participants,” said a worker at the cockfighting arenas that are installed in several municipalities and who identified himself as Carlos Domínguez.
Thus, through WhatsApp, they called for a demonstration on January 16, in Tuxtla, the capital of Chiapas, to end in the central square, starting at 08:00 hours.
“They are asked to wear white t-shirts, banners or posters alluding to what is in favor of cockfighting. We are not criminals. Cockfighters are not criminals. The governor is very misinformed: He has a very wrong idea of what fighting cocks and cockfighters are.”
“There are professionals: doctors, veterinarians, accountants, engineers, architects, all kinds of professions are in this world of cockfighting. We must not wait any longer. It is time to act. It is time to do something real in defense of our traditions.”
They ask to negotiate with the governor about cockfights
A woman who is a cockfighting fan who did not identify herself, considered that since Ramírez Aguilar’s announcement was made at a public event and is not a prohibition by Congress, then what is appropriate is to negotiate with him. “It is about negotiating with him and just as he negotiated with the clubs, which have a schedule, a security measure, that is what we are going to do.”
This Monday, Ramírez Aguilar said at a public event in Tuxtla, that there should not be cockfights and horse races during municipal festivities.
“There should be no horse races or cockfights in the palenques, because this should not be the meeting point for criminals, but rather it should be a job of the municipalities, in a coordinated manner with the state, and we will be vigilant so that this type of meeting, where criminals gather, let’s say it like that, with all the expression, then it becomes conflicts and then we have there, insecurity at full blast.”
For this reason, horse races and cockfights will be prohibited. “That is why we are going to avoid this type of events in the municipalities, so that they are not held at the fairs. These are decisions that are sometimes not so popular, but I want to say that I do not make decisions based on my popularity. I make decisions based on security and that is what we have to do in Chiapas.”
Chiapas has become an entity where mayors from all parties, including the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), show off horses of the Arabian, Friesian, thoroughbred, Andalusian and other breeds, in races and horseback rides, which are attended by people from Mexico and Guatemala.
In Chiapas, the mayor of Comitán, for the Labor Party (PT), Mario Antonio Guillén Domínguez, is famous for showing off his Friesian horse at religious festivals.
He even had a recycled plastic sculpture made and displays it in the town’s central park.
Source: eluniversal
