Bullfights will return to the city of Guadalajara with eleven shows starting next January 31, after having been suspended by a court order since November 2023, the bullfighting promoter, Jorge de los Reyes, announced today.
“The criteria issued by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation in December (2024) was very clear that bullfighting is a legal, lawful and legitimate activity and cannot be prohibited unless an interest that is affecting the rights of third parties is proven,” he explained at a press conference.
In Guadalajara, he explained that this criterion has also allowed the reopening of the Plaza México in Mexico City, the largest bullfighting venue in the world.
This legal argument prevailed in the ruling of the Second Collegiate Court in Administrative Matters that gave the green light for the reopening of the Plaza Nuevo Progreso in Guadalajara.
“Therefore, there should no longer be prohibitions, I cannot assure that there are no attempts, but that criterion of the highest judicial body has been very clear in that sense,” he emphasized.
The suspension in both Mexico City and Guadalajara occurred in 2023, at the request of civil groups that promote animal and environmental rights, but the Supreme Court revoked it in 2024.
The reopening program in Guadalajara will bring together eleven bullfights over three months with figures such as the Peruvian Andrés Roca Rey, as well as the Spaniards Enrique Ponce and Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza, who will say goodbye to the stands.
With bulls from Xajay, Tequisquiapan, José Garfias, Pozo Hondo, San Marcos, Villa Carmela, Barralva and Campo Hermoso, the festivities will begin on January 31 and end on March 30, some of them during weekends.
Mexican matador Oscar Rodriguez said that it is up to bullfighting fans to defend this sport by attending the stands and supporting the bullfights.
“We are very excited about this reopening, to show that the festival is something that is of interest, something that we have defended in courts and tribunals and that now it is our turn to defend it with our presence in the stands,” he said.
Bullfights in the Plaza Nuevo Progreso are expected to be attended by fans from all over the country, especially from the central-western region of Mexico.
Source: informador
