Colombia President Petro signs law banning bullfighting
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00:00No More Olés was the slogan for a ceremony in a former bullring where Colombian President
00:04Gustavo Petro signed into law the bill that bans bullfighting in the country.
00:10Banning the sport had been a name of Petro's ever since he became mayor of Bogotá in 2012,
00:15but he said the authorities must ensure that people who relied on bullfighting for a living
00:19be supported.
00:26Here you need a concrete plan where people who have been linked to this type of life,
00:31that they have lived with passion, can find professional job development with dignity
00:36in life.
00:38The city of Bogotá has to find a way to find this path.
00:47Campaigners now want bullrings to be put to other uses.
00:51What we want is for those bloodstained spaces that have been the centre of animal torture
00:55to be converted into spaces for concerts, fairs, recreational and sports activities.
01:02Bullfighting in Colombia, which dates back to the days of Spanish colonialism, has seen
01:06a decline in popularity in recent decades.
01:09When the bill was passed in May, children stopped coming to this bullfighting school
01:12outside Bogotá.
01:14But Sebastián Carqués, a professional matador, says he has no intention of hanging up his
01:19muleta.
01:21Over the next three years, I will continue practicing outside of the country, inside
01:26my country.
01:27When we can't, we will do it illegally because this is our life, our passion, it's our way
01:33of life and I will die a bullfighter.
01:37One problem will be what to do with the bulls that can no longer fight.
01:41One breeder says they'll all be put down.
01:45The day they tell me bullfighting is forbidden, all the cattle will go to the slaughterhouse,
01:50all of them.
01:51Why would I keep fighting bulls if I can't have them fight?
01:56About 30,000 fighting bulls remain in Colombia.
01:59Their fate is not specified by the new law, but animal rights activists hope they'll be
02:04given a new lease of life.