Rio DE JANEIROcTypeface:> Colombian President Gustavo Petro has signed a law banning bullfighting in the South American country.
“We cannot tell the world that killing living and sentient beings for entertainment is culture,” Petro said on Monday at a ceremony attended by hundreds of animal rights activists in a Bogotá bullfighting arena.
He added that if nature is destroyed, humanity is at an end. “Nature has rights that are independent of us, and these rights must be respected,” he said.
The bullfighting arena will become a stage for “culture, sport, life and not death,” the president said. The country now has three years to convert bullfighting arenas into culture and art centres.
The workers who earned their livelihood from bullfighting would need to be retrained, Petro said, noting that as many of them as possible should be kept on board.
The law dubbed “No más olé,” meaning no more olé - the cheer used during bullfights, was passed by Congress in a historic decision at the end of May. (DPA)
