Cruel ‘sport’ of the ages

GUARANDA, COLOMBIA (AFP) – Eliecer Molina climbs onto the stands to collect his cash prize after excelling in a corraleja in Colombia’s Caribbean north.

This form of bullfighting – a holdover from Colombia’s colonial Spanish heritage – is hugely popular, but some politicians want it banned and have tabled a bill in Parliament to do so.

Unlike regular Spanish-style bullfights held elsewhere in Colombia, the animals are not killed and spectators are invited into the ring to face off with the bulls.

“That’s a bullfighter’s risk,” said Molina, nursing a cut on her left eye, the result of a misjudgment.

Molina, a 37-year-old odd-job man nicknamed “Coconut Brain,” is one of many of these bullfighters who attend these Corraleja shows at the beginning of each year.

In Guaranda, a town of 15,600 in the northern department of Sucre, the bullring was specially made for the occasion and 58 bulls were loaned from wealthy local ranchers.

Some young people make their names by roaming from town to town in Corralejas, defying death. Manuel Ricardo Rodriguez says he’s participating for pleasure and “necessity”. He’s a banderillero trying to stick flags in the bull’s shoulders. He was impaled in the leg.

He suffered another injury two weeks ago, requiring a total of 36 stitches for both.

But while the corralejas are steeped in Colombian traditions, many lawmakers are trying to ban them for animal cruelty reasons.

“VIOLENCE AND CRUEL”

The crackle of gunfire warns attendees that the cops will soon be released.

They enter the ring and immediately angrily chase after the people, some of whom bravely face the animals, while others flee in terror to hide under the stands.

The corralejas last almost a week, while local politicians sponsor the entertainment and provide music bands and alcohol in exchange for having their names blazoned in the arena, which seats 3,000 in Guaranda.

It takes 12 days to build the bullring, which is then dismantled and moved to another city.

But locals in Guaranda are worried their festival could be derailed by animal rights initiatives.

Senator Andrea Padilla supported a bill in Congress calling for the banning of “cruel shows involving animals.”

The Corralejas are “violent and cruel to … sentient beings,” Padilla said AFP.

The bill originally called for bullfights, cockfights and corralejas to be banned.

However, mention of Corralejas was dropped after some lawmakers expressed concerns that they were too entrenched in local culture.

Padilla, backed by President Gustavo Petro, now wants to tighten regulations around Corralejas regarding the use of sharp objects, consumption of alcohol and child access.

Petro has asked mayors to suspend events where “animal abuse takes place,” but in 2018 Colombia’s top court recognized corralejas as a cultural tradition.

There is no official data on the number of people killed or injured from eating, nor on the victims of frequent grandstand collapses.

In 1980, more than 500 people died when the arena in Sincelejo, the capital of Sucre, collapsed.

‘LAST CARTRIDGES’

The stalls are packed with food vendors and even onlookers relaxing in hammocks tied to posts they can find.

Dionisio Suarez, the organizer of the Guaranda events, says that the corralejas are a tradition that runs in the blood of the locals.

To ban the most eagerly awaited event of the year would mean “Happiness is ending…we are entering into sadness…. people are hungry,” said Suarez.

The local economy is heavily dependent on livestock and the corralejas. Children are just as enthusiastic about them as adults.

Pedro Chaves, 57, took his grandchildren, ages two and eight, to see the Corralejas.
“We have to inculcate our same culture in them… This is passed from one generation to the next,” he said.

But he warned: “You have to make the best of the last remaining” Corralejas.

For Padilla, it is not about tradition, but about a barbaric act that must be stopped, similar to the spectacle in the Colosseum in Rome 2000 years ago. “The resemblance to the Roman Colosseum is very clear,” she said. “It uses some defenseless arms … whether human or animal, for the entertainment of some elite.”

In Latin America, bullfights are already banned in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Guatemala.

Costa Rica offers a similar show to the Corralejas, but with no animals harmed.