Bogota’s mayor Gustavo Petro announced Wednesday that the Colombian capital’s bullfighting ring will be transformed into a center for culture and education, local media reported.
The city government ordered Bogota’s Bullfighting Corporation to abandon animal cruelty, including the death of the bull. As the corporation refused to do so, there will be a change, Petro said according to local media.
In a press release Petro said the arena, known as Santamaria, will now be part of the city’s education system a a venue for national writers and poets to teach public school students in.
The decision to close the venue was based on a Colombian Constitutional Court ruling which stated that activities involving “entertainment and cultural expression with animals” may be practiced, “provided [the animals] receive special protection against suffering and pain during the course of those activities,” Colombian weekly Semana reported.
Felipe Negret, manager of the Bullfighting Corporation, called the ban on bullfighting a threat to individual freedom and “very clearly” detrimental to cultural heritage, El Tiempo reported.
Last January Petro took a stance against bullfighting by renouncing the City Hall seating box in the arena.
