VENEZUELA:
Bull Fights - Cultural Tradition or National Disgrace?
Humberto Márquez

CARACAS,  (IPS) - The roar of "Olé!" greeting a sweep of the cape and the rapturous applause when the bull meets its death at the matador's sword may soon become a thing of the past in Venezuela if the movement supporting a new animal protection law is successful.

Bull fights may have to undergo so many changes that they could die out. Bull tailing, in which riders on horses grab the tail of a running bull and pull it down, would be regulated and limited, cock fighting would have to go, and stricter controls would be exerted to prevent holding dog fights, which are already banned.

Some 200 animal rights activists marched through the centre of Caracas Thursday in support of the draft "Law for the Protection of Domestic, Tamed, Wild and Exotic Animals at Liberty and in Captivity", which was approved by the single-chamber parliament at its first reading and will now be debated in detail.

"After 27 years of struggle, we are finally going to be able to curb, restrain, regulate and in future eliminate all those spectacles in which animals are exploited, humiliated, tortured and killed," an exultant Cristina Camilloni, head of the Caracas-based Association for the Defence of Animals (APROA), who led the march in her wheelchair, told IPS.

One placard depicted a dead bull in an arena, with the legend "MatARTE" (roughly: "Killing for Art's Sake"). T-shirts worn by younger participants in the parade said "I'm an Animal, Just Like You", and other banners and signs read "Stop Animal Experimentation!" or "They Feel and Suffer Like We Do".

Camilloni and her followers are taking, as it were, the bull by the horns. "People argue that spectacles like bull fights and animal fights are traditions, but if they go against human morality and ethics they cannot be defended on that ground."

"In parts of Africa, female genital mutilation is traditional, but it's still inhuman," she said.

Luis Tascón, ironically the legislator for Táchira, a southwestern state firmly attached to its bull fights, is the main proponent of this law, and as he came out to meet the demonstrators he told IPS that he trusts "the law will be passed this year."

"We know that it's hard to accept this law, which affects ancient cultural traditions that we inherited from the times of the Roman Empire," said Tascón. "But in the interests of preserving the planet, we must discourage a culture that delights in harming animals, and in the human species fighting against other species."

"There are economic interests opposed to the law, because they are élitist sports, for the rich; ordinary people don't go to the bull fights or bull tailing events," Tascón said. Asked about the popular cock fights, he said: "They're not popular spectacles; baseball is a popular sport, and above all football, which is the most inexpensive."

A different opinion was expressed by Josué Carreño, a construction worker who keeps fighting cocks on the southwest side of the Venezuelan capital, and goes to the El Calvario Cockfighting Club in Caracas one or two Sundays a month. "This is a traditional pastime for many ordinary people. Some rich members bet heavily, but others only wager a few thousand bolivars (a few dollars)," he told IPS.

According to Tascón, cockfighting will only be permitted if the birds' talons and spurs are gloved. "If this is the rule for boxers, why not for animals who are made to fight each other?" he asked.

The text of the draft law says that "all animals are born into life as equals and have the same right to existence," and prohibits cruel treatment. It also establishes that if an animal must die (to be eaten, for instance), its death should be "instantaneous, painless and should not cause distress."

Circuses, bullfighting festivals and other activities involving injury, humiliation, suffering or death to animals would be closed down. Only in exceptional cases, and then "only as a visual spectacle," would bullfighting or bull tailing be allowed, but without torturing or killing the bull.

In bull tailing, a bull is released in an enclosed space and chased by riders who compete to grab its tail and bring it down. It originated as a means of catching stray cattle when herding them on the vast plains ("llanos") to the south and southwest of Caracas, and as a form of entertainment it is attested by 17th century records.

Two decades ago, while on a visit to Venezuela, the renowned Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) asked to be taken to a bull tailing spectacle. Although he was already blind, he could hear the shouts and feel the daring and roughness of the riders.

"He wanted to feel the violence," wrote Argentine literary critic Tomás Elóy Martínez later, of the incident.

During his weekly Sunday radio and television programme, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, himself a native of the southwestern plains, once talked about whether bull tailing should be declared the national sport, in response to a request by a caller.

Tascón said he was opposed to the idea, since "unnecessary violence against animals is against socialist principles."

All of the 167 members of the Venezuelan parliament are supporters of Chávez -- the opposition boycotted the last legislative elections -- who says his aim for Venezuela is "21st century socialism". However, there is no unanimity with regard to spectacles involving animals.

"As a plainsman who respects our traditions, I am opposed to the elimination of features of our identity and culture. I am definitely not in agreement with this law and its narrow approach to preserving animal life," said Deputy Eustoquio Contreras, from the central state of Guárico.

"Ordinary people don't go to golf courses, but they do go to bull tailing events or cock fights," said Contreras, who criticised colleagues like Tascón, saying "there can be many forms of violence against animals. How do you know that slaughtering a cow or a pig for its meat isn't one of them?"

About bull fights, Tascón said they could be held, but without the preliminary lancing of the bull by mounted "picadores" nor the planting of barbed sticks or "banderillas" into the bull's neck to weaken it, unless the bull is protected with body armour. And the bull must not be killed, at the end.

"They want to turn our bull fights into the kind they have in Portugal, instead of following the Spanish tradition as our countries do," taurine critic Eduardo Rodríguez told IPS. "These new regulations will bring the 'Fiesta Brava' of bullfighting to its knees, after 25 years of being in crisis in Venezuela."

Since the Venezuelan currency began to plummet in value in 1983, and exchange controls were introduced, the importing of fighting bulls and the hiring of skilled foreign matadors have been drastically curtailed, with the result that bull fights, which used to be held in a dozen renowned arenas, now take place in very few places.

"Bull fights are part and parcel of the fairs and patronal festivals of the main cities in the provinces, such as Maracaibo, Valencia, Maracay, Mérida and San Cristóbal. They are a major attraction for domestic tourism and a motor of the economy. All of this could take a nosedive if the spectacle is so diminished that it is made to disappear in a short time," Rodríguez warned.

Finally, the draft law rules out trade or export of local fauna under any circumstances; sets out measures that municipalities must take to regulate the duties of pet owners and the creation of shelters for abandoned animals; and establishes heavy fines of up to 1,800 dollars, or business closures, depending on the case, for violators.