Mexico City bans violent bullfighting, sparking fury and celebration

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico City lawmakers on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to ban violent bullfighting, triggering outrage from aficionados and celebration from animal rights advocates.

The legislation, approved by a 61-1 vote, prohibits the killing of bulls and the use of sharp objects that could injure the animals. It also sets time limits on how long bulls could be in the ring, all part of an initiative dubbed “bullfighting without violence.”

The decision sparked angry protests from bullfighting supporters and matadors, some of whom tried to breach a police barricade at the local Congress. Some carried signs that read “Being a fan of la fiesta brava (bullfighting) is not a crime, it’s a point of pride.”

Meanwhile, Animal rights protesters and lawmakers pushing the bill celebrated, walking out onto the steps of Congress surrounded by police in riot gear, pumping their fists and carrying stuffed bull dolls.

“It was either this or nothing," said Sofía Morín, an animal rights activist with the organization Culture Without Torture, Mexico Without Bullfighting, leading the initiative to change the laws. “We prefer this because, without a doubt, it's a huge step in protecting animals.”

Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada of the ruling Morena party echoed activists saying the decision would turn the Mexican capital into a place “that respects the rights of animals.

Tuesday’s vote appeared to be an attempt to broker a compromise between two warring sides of the debate after years of back-and-forth about the practice.

Bullfighting has long been considered a tradition and a pastime in Latin American nations, but has come under criticism for animal cruelty because bulls are often killed at the end of the fight. Animal rights groups say that approximately 180,000 bulls are killed every year in bullfighting worldwide.

The tradition, which has long drawn big crowds to arenas across Mexico, was dealt a blow when a judge in Mexico City banned the practice in June 2022, shutting down an arena that has been billed as the world’s largest bullfighting ring. The judge ruled that bullfights violated city residents' rights to a healthy environment free from violence.

While animal rights advocates celebrated it as a victory, and a step toward ending the bloody tradition, bullfighters said it dealt an economic blow to the city. The National Association of Breeders of Fighting Bulls in Mexico says bullfighting generates 80,000 direct jobs, and 146,000 indirect jobs across the country. Overall, the industry generates approximately $400 million a year.

That was the concern for many in the crowd protesting the end of the violent fights, while others like Juan Pablo Pimienta screamed through a megaphone “it's an activity where the fighting bull dies in a bullring. That's its nature. ... It is a beast."

In 2023, Mexico’s Supreme Court overturned the ban without explanation, allowing bullfighting arenas to be flooded once again with fans of the so-called “fiesta brava.”

On Tuesday, in a speech before the city's congress, Green Party lawmaker Jesús Sesma acknowledged that the decision would anger a segment of the city’s population.

“To those families who feel frustrated today, we're here to say that no one lost their job,” he said. “There was a middle ground to continue with these bullfighting spectacles, but now without violence.”

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

A young supporter of bullfighting joins a demonstration in support of bullfighting outside Mexico City's Congress where lawmakers are expected to debate its continuation in Mexico City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

An animal-rights demonstrator carries a sign that reads in Spanish "A real festival does not need blood," outside Mexico's City's Congress where lawmakers are expected to debate the continuation of bullfighting in Mexico City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

People demonstrate against bullfighting with signs that read in Spanish "Human liberation. Animal liberation," center, and "Violence is not culture," right, outside Mexico's City's Congress where lawmakers are expected to debate the continuation of bullfighting in Mexico City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

A protester wearing a bull costume and shirt that reads in Spanish "No to bullfighting!" gathers outside Mexico's City's Congress where lawmakers are expected to debate its continuation in Mexico City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

A supporter of bullfighting holds a sign that reads in Spanish "Prohibited to forbid" outside Mexico's City's Congress where lawmakers are expected to debate the continuation of bullfighting in Mexico City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

A young supporter of bullfighting joins a protest in support of bullfighting outside Mexico's City's Congress where lawmakers are expected to debate its continuation in Mexico City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

A supporter of bullfighting holds a sign that reads in Spanish "Freedom" outside Mexico's City's Congress where lawmakers are expected to debate its continuation in Mexico City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

A supporter of bullfighting holds a sign that reads in Spanish "Bullfighting is an art" outside Mexico's City's Congress where lawmakers are expected to debate its continuation in Mexico City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)

FILE - Animal rights activists smeared with fake blood and donning banderillas to depict bulls stabbed in bullfights, protest against bullfighting, in Mexico City, Feb. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

FILE - Mexican bullfighter Sergio Flores demonstrates his capework during a bullfighting workshop, in Aculco, Mexico, Jan. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s governor on Monday urged people to moderate their energy consumption as she warned that the island has no additional power generation capability to fall back on days after a massive blackout hit the U.S. territory.

Gov. Jenniffer González said officials are waiting for an explanation from Luma Energy, a private company that oversees transmission and distribution of power in Puerto Rico, about what caused the island-wide outage on April 16. It affected 1.4 million customers and left more than 400,000 others without water.

The governor announced that two subcommittees have been created: one to help the island’s so-called energy czar to audit Luma’s contract and another to identify potential companies to replace Luma if its contract is terminated.

“There have been multiple incidents,” she said when asked whether the blackout was reason enough to cancel Luma’s contract, something she pledged to do while campaigning for governor. “The operator sold itself as an expert ... That perception of expertise has proven to be false.”

Luma said in a statement sent late Monday to The Associated Press that it was focused on the grid's reconstruction, “fulfilling the responsibilities established in our contract.”

The company said it “has extensive technical and operational experience, including personnel with experience in the aviation industry, as well as employees from the former operator,” referring to Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority.

Luma has five days to explain why a transmission line failed and to provide details about whether it complied with required flyovers of transmission lines to ensure they remain free of tree branches and other obstructions.

A preliminary report from Luma released late Friday found that a transmission line apparently failed because of overgrown vegetation.

“The fact that this happened indicates either that the patrol didn’t take place or that the line inspector didn’t detect it. That tree didn’t grow there overnight,” said Josué Colón, Puerto Rico’s so-called energy czar and former executive director of the island’s Electric Power Authority.

He said protective equipment that was supposed to detect and isolate the failure also failed, which caused the transmission system to collapse in “a cascade event that is irreversible.”

“The important thing now is that this doesn’t happen again,” he said.

González said Puerto Rico’s government has launched its own investigation into the blackout to compare it to Luma’s report and determine any discrepancies.

Luma said it was “continuing a thorough investigation" into the blackout and monitors transmission and distribution lines “in accordance with the highest industry standards.”

“We remain committed to transparency and will continue to inform our customers and the public as soon as we have confirmed information,” it said.

Meanwhile, González stressed that the Trump administration has been in communication with her since the outage occurred, adding that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency authorized the extended use of industrial generators.

On Monday, some 20,000 customers remained without power, although officials said other issues were to blame.

“Our system is fragile,” González said.

Earlier on Monday, she, Colón and other officials met behind closed doors to review Luma's preliminary findings, recommend next steps and talk about an ongoing search for a company that can provide 800 megawatts of additional power generation in the upcoming months.

After a blackout on New Year’s Eve, the one on April 16 was the second such massive outage to hit Puerto Rico in less than four months.

Puerto Rico has struggled with chronic outages since September 2017, when Hurricane Maria hit the island as a powerful Category 4 storm, razing a power grid that crews are still struggling to rebuild.

The grid already had been deteriorating following decades of a lack of maintenance and investment under the state’s Electric Power Authority, which is struggling to restructure more than $9 billion in debt.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Headlights illuminate cobblestone streets in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, during an island-wide blackout, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)