The top court in Mexico, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), has invalidated a decree of the state of Nayarit that considered cockfighting and bullfighting as an Intangible Cultural Heritage, a measure often taken as an attempt to protect these cruel sports from the advances of the animal protection movement aiming to abolish them.
This ruling comes from an appeal filed by the non-profit organisation Cuenta Conmigo against the decree issued in 2018 by the Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit, in west-central Mexico. The second chamber of the highest Mexican court ruled by four votes in favour and one against that such “activities are not susceptible to recognition as intangible cultural heritage” and that animals are not things but “species deserving of decent treatment.” Despite being the most bullfighting country in the world, Mexico is losing, bit by bit, the ability to stage bullfights. Several of the 32 states have already banned bullfighting (Sonora, Guerrero, Coahuila, Quintana Roo, and Sinaloa), and recently, a district judge suspended all bullfights in México City pending the resolution of a complanit that claims that the laws that regulate them are unconstitutional. However, also recently, the Mexican State of Nuevo León declared cockfighting and bullfighting as Intangible Cultural Heritage, but due to the Supreme Court ruling is likely that this decree will also be annulled. The advances of the anti-bullfighting movement all over Latin America are quite impressive. Venezuela may be quite close to banning it, and Colombia could do it too as a bill to ban bullfighting has been passed in their House of Representatives, and a few days ago Colombia has elected a new president, Gustavo Petro, known for being very anti-bullfighting (when he was the mayor of Bogotá he banned bullfighting in the capital).
