Bullfighting in the Arena and fighting outside

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In November, a colleague from The New York Times invited me to an exhibition tennis match between Carlos Alcaraz and Tommy Paul at a historic location: La Plaza México, the largest bullring in the world.

The arena, which opened in Mexico City in 1946, seats 42,000 people and is dwarfed by the stadium next door, home to the Cruz Azul professional soccer team. Nearly 20,000 people attended the tennis match and the huge venue still felt empty. As I walked around, I saw many reminders of the bullring’s history – statues and images of bullfighters – but no signs advertising future bullfighting events.

After the match, I learned that a federal judge had banned bullfighting at La Plaza México in 2022, following a legal challenge from a human rights organization that argued that “humiliatingThe treatment of bulls was harmful to society. Bullfighting proponents argue that the practice has been an important part of the country’s culture and economy for centuries.

I moved from New York to Mexico City last April to cover sports and culture in Latin America, and I was able to learn a lot about the region and its traditions. My article on bullfighting, published online this month, describes many legal battles that played out in real time.

My reporting began in earnest in January, a month after the Mexican Supreme Court overturned the ban about bullfighting at the location. I knew immediately that there was a story, a story that would spark discussion and perhaps even surprise.

Many people associate bullfighting with Spain, a country that popularized the practice. So I thought some of the Times readers would be intrigued to learn that the largest bullfighting venue in the world was in Mexico City, the largest bullfighting city in the largest bullfighting country in the world. With the popularity of the practice decreasing in other countries and in five of Mexico’s 31 states that have banned it since 2013, I found it counterintuitive that bullfighting was now returning to an emblematic place.

With the blessing of my editor, Diego Ribadeneira, I spent a few weeks trying to understand the smaller picture – the case of La Plaza México – and the bigger one: the future of bullfighting in Mexico. The people on both sides are noisy and their movements are vigorous.

To make sure I understood the history and context of bullfighting, I spoke to all kinds of people: bullfighters, the director of La Plaza México, the head of a national bullfighting association, farmers, legal experts, animal rights activists, protesters and fans.

Last month, José Mauricio, a bullfighter I met during my reporting, and Paola San Román, another bullfighter, allowed the photographer Luis Antonio Rojas and I to watch them practice in Santiago de Querétaro, a city about three hours away of Mexico City. . Although I had previously visited Seville and Pamplona, two major bullfighting cities in Spain, this was the first time I saw people killing bulls. Their carcasses were transported to a butcher’s shop.

Bullfighting resumed at La Plaza México at the end of January. On the first day of his return, Luis and I arrived early to observe the scene. We followed protesters outside the arena, walked through the venue during the event and observed the reactions of nearly 42,000 fans as five bulls were killed in the ring. (A sixth was killed in the corral after a bullfighter failed to do so in the arena and was booed by the crowd.) When I sat down to write later that day, I felt a strong sense of duty to do everything I wanted, thoughtfully and evocatively to capture. had seen.

A few days later, the article was nearing publication when we learned of another legal challenge – a temporary suspension – secured by an animal rights group. Bullfighting was again suspended in the arena. I tried to track down details and edited the article to reflect the news.

We published the article on Thursday, February 1. La Plaza México’s lawyers were able to overturn the suspension on Friday. The battle over bullfighting is clearly ongoing, and our article proved to be a timely explanation of a touchy subject.

When I returned to La Plaza México in January, I remembered a moment of the evening I saw Alcaraz and Paul playing tennis there. After defeating Paul, Alcaraz was given a sombrero, a trophy and a microphone. While answering questions, Alcaraz, who is from Spain, explained how happy he was to be in Mexico City, and especially in a bullring. And since he was there, he said, he had to do “this,” waving his arm to the side as if he were a bullfighter waving his cape.

The moment underlined how deep-rooted the culture of bullfighting is, although ironic that it took place in a location where the practice was banned. Two months after the competition, I was back in the arena, watching the same move – this time with a real bull and cape – and writing about it.