Those devoted to bullfighting in Mexico feel recent bans harm a sacred tradition[html]
Mexican bullfighter Diego Silveti smiles at fans in the bullring after a bullfight in Aguascalientes, Mexico, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)2025-05-07T05:04:06Z
AGUASCALIENTES, Mexico (AP) — Mexican matador Diego Silveti performs a ritual ahead of each data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-city-bullfighting-animal-rights-5aad168d9080a66c6cc10aaa5b1794b6">bullfight.
In each hotel room where he dresses in the garment that may bring him glory or death, he sets up an altar where he leaves his wedding band and prays before heading to the arena.
“By leaving my ring behind, I’m telling God: Here’s everything I am as a father, a husband, a son and a brother,” Silveti said. “I commit to what I was born to be — a bullfighter.”
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Mexican bullfighter Diego Silveti touches an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the bullring chapel before a bullfight in Aguascalientes, Mexico, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
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Mexican bullfighter Diego Silveti touches an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the bullring chapel before a bullfight in Aguascalientes, Mexico, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
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An embroidered image of the Virgin of Guadalupe decorates Mexican bullfighter Diego Silveti’s capote, or bullfighter’s cape, in a hotel room in Aguascalientes, Mexico, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
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An embroidered image of the Virgin of Guadalupe decorates Mexican bullfighter Diego Silveti’s capote, or bullfighter’s cape, in a hotel room in Aguascalientes, Mexico, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
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He last encountered a bull in late April in Aguascalientes, a state in central Mexico where bullfighting is considered a cultural heritage. Weeks before, though, Mexico City data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-city-bullfighting-animal-rights-fiesta-brava-09707d6eddef807bc330fc286d7b1b15">lawmakers banned violent bullfighting in the nation’s capital.
While matadors there are still allowed to fight bulls, piercing their muscles with laces or running a sword through their body is prohibited under that ban.
Animal rights advocates celebrated the ruling and Environment Secretary Julia Álvarez said the lawmakers made history. But matadors like Silveti, as well as fans and cattle breeders, contend this long-time data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/travel-and-tourism-arts-and-entertainment-general-news-c8a1a7befb56495b9a1a50bf7853ddbf">Spanish tradition bears a data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-bullfights-animal-rights-tlacotalpan-veracruz-83858ca8b827222f62cb7bc817e55d34">profound significance that would be undermined if bulls can’t be killed in the arena.
“What they propose goes against the essence and the rituals of bullfighting,” Silveti said. “It’s a veiled prohibition that opposes the ways in which it has been done since its origins.”
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Mexican bullfighter Diego Silveti partakes in a bullfight in Aguascalientes, Mexico, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
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Topic: Those devoted to bullfighting in Mexico feel recent bans harm a sacred tradition (Read 804 times)
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