MEXICO CITY (CN) — Bullfighting returned Sunday to a completely full Plaza Mexico, the largest bullfighting ring in the world, for the first time since the Mexican Supreme Court temporarily suspended the sport in May 2022.
A panel of five Supreme Court justices reviewed and unanimously denied the injunction in December, lifting the suspension.
Outside the plaza, a group of at least 100 animal welfare advocates protested the return of what they see as an archaic and cruel practice.
Chanting "murderers" and "shame," they marched down Insurgentes Avenue, some playing drums, some with megaphones, holding signs with slogans like "This isn't tradition this is cruelty." Some donned costumes as bulls covered in blood while a faction tried to scale the outside gate of the plaza.
Jacqueline Zuñiga, part of the animal welfare group Animal Liberation, said, "We are against the torture of animals for public amusement in Mexico City."
Sergio Delgado, also part of the protest, echoed these statements.
"I am against the mistreatment of animals in general all across the world," he said.
Yeral Sanabria, who has been selling seat cushions to bullfighting spectators on and off for four years said the money's needed but "I respect the protesters for speaking up for the bulls who cannot defend themselves."
At the bustling La Cigala restaurant, a crowd mostly sits at tables, drinking beers and eating seafood before entering the plaza.
"I have been coming here for years. I enjoy the atmosphere, the excitement, the spectacle," said Ivan Villegas. "The protesters have their right to protest. As long they are respectful, I respect them and their right as well."
Matthew Butler, a history professor at the University of Texas Austin, said bullfighting has been around since Catholicism.
"They have been around as long as there have been bovine animals, they are the oldest form of entertainment, they have been in Mexico before Mexico was a country," Butler said.
"In Mexico's colonial period, they were part of royal anniversaries to celebrate the arrival of a new viceroy. In the 19th century, they took on a more folkloric patriotic idea, the idea that Mexico can do it better than the Spanish. They were carnivalesque, communal performances of daring."
At 4:30 p.m., the restaurant emptied out. It was time for the bullfight. The word freedom is painted across the entire ring. Spanish horns played from above, introducing the bullfighters, Roca Rey, Diego Silveti and Joselito Adame.
When the bull is released, the audience fell into a hush. The stomping of the bull's hooves on the dirt is the loudest sound, except for the occasional scream of an audience member shushed by a thousand others.
In that moment, the bullfighter assesses the bull.
"You are a human, and you are going to feel fear. But you are prepared. You train," said retired bullfighter Manolo Martinez Jr., who has fought at least 1,000 bulls and is the son of one of the most well known and successful bullfighters in Mexican history, Manolo Martinez. "When you have doubts is when bad things happen. That is the biggest fear, the worst fear is failure. That fear of failure can take something away from you that a bull cannot."
In the first stage of the bullfight, the bull is stabbed by a picador on horseback. The second stage commences when the bullfighter tries to put two rods into the back of the bull.
The bullfighter then reenters the ring and provokes the bull to come as close to him as possible using a red cape. The closer and more artistic the passes, the better the performance is received by the audience, with chants of "olè."
The audience can also show their disapproval of the performance, trying to influence the president of the bullfight, or judge, by waving a white handkerchief to show they want the bull spared.
At this point, the bullfighter prepares to stab the bull in the heart with the sword after dedicating it to someone or the audience in general. This act is supposed to be as quickly and cleanly as possible.
"Killing a bull is something that I prepare for," Martinez said. "It's something I know that is going to happen. It is not something that I take satisfaction in doing."
The final bullfighter of the evening attempted this last stabbing three times without success to the condemnation of the crowd. Blood cascaded from the bull and onto the dirt.
"It is supposed to be done in the fastest way possible, the easiest way possible. That is the goal," Martinez said.
Finally, the stabbing ended, but not before the audience threw their seat cushions into the ring, booing and hissing at the unsuccessful performance.
Some chanted "let it go" in an ironic show of solidarity with the protesters outside as more seat cushions rained down into the ring.
"This is when bullfighting is torture," a man said.
The audience headed for the exits after what could be considered a lackluster performance due to the prolonged killing of the final bull of the evening. As the crowd was leaving, a small child dressed in the traditional bullfighter's suit, the suit of light, took to the empty ring and swung his cape to the adoring "olés" of the crowd.
"When you have a problem, you are going to try to forget about it. It's the same thing in a bullfight. You are going there because you like it, and you are going to try to enjoy it, you go to forget about your problems," Martinez said of a bullfighting audience.
"It's the same with anything else. It's why people go out to the movies," he said.
As the crowd left, the second, most well-regarded bullfighter of the evening was quickly mobbed by fans who tried to take pictures, some trying to kiss him.
Bullfighting has been banned twice in modern Mexico's history. In 1867, President Benito Juarez decreed that "bullfights will not be considered among the permitted public entertainments" in Mexico City.
This ban lasted 19 years, until 1894, during General Porfirio Díaz' rule of Mexico.
President Venustiano Carranza, who sought to maintain political order, banned the practice again in 1916.
This ban did not last long and the first widely publicized bullfight — although bullfights had been a common occurrence during the attempted ban — occurred on May 16, 1920, in Mexico City after Carranza had fled the capital.
Other notable prohibitions were between 1567 and 1596, when the Catholic Church prohibited bullfighting five times in what was New Spain, though the prohibition had little effect.
Bullfighting events remain suspended in the states of Sonora, Guerrero, Coahuila and Quintana Roo.
Plaza Mexico will host bullfights every Sunday until March 17 to expected high attendance and protests outside its gates.
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