Spain’s left-wing government has been accused of using bullfighting as a “political weapon” after announcing that it was eliminating a national prize dedicated to the pastime.
Culture minister Ernest Urtasun said that this year’s National Bullfighting Prize had been cancelled and that his department was in the process of ensuring it would not be awarded in the future.
“If there is anyone who believes that in 2024 in Spain an activity that causes the torture of animals should be rewarded with public money, then they are free to do that,” he said. “But, as the culture ministry, which awards national prizes, we have decided that present-day society ... prefers that these kinds of activities are not rewarded.”
The prize was first given in 2013 and the winner receives €30,000, the same as the amount handed out for equivalent prizes for fiction and theatre and €10,000 more than the National Poetry Prize. Last year’s winner was the veteran matador Julián “El Juli” López. Bullfighting is considered by its supporters to be a cultural activity.
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The culture ministry has said its decision is supported by government data, which shows that fewer than 2 per cent of Spaniards went to a bullfight between 2021 and 2022, well below the number who attended one in 2019. Although the activity has bounced back from the Covid pandemic, the number of bullfights held across Spain fell from 3,651 in 2007 to 1,546 in 2022.
Mr Urtasun belongs to Sumar, the junior partner in the coalition government of socialist Pedro Sánchez, which has long been known to be opposed to bullfighting. The decision drew an immediate backlash, mainly from the political right, which tends to support the pastime.
“Bullfighting is part of Spain’s culture,” wrote Madrid’s conservative mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida on social media. “Madrid, proud capital of bullfighting, will always defend it in the face of sectarianism.”
Vicente Barrera, vice-president of the Valencia region for the far-right Vox party and himself a former bullfighter, described the move as an “attack on freedom of expression, when the role of the state should be to promote and protect cultural diversity in our country”.
The celebrity matador Francisco Rivera, warned that the government was using bullfighting as “a political weapon” to divide society.
Those who defend bullfighting play down the suffering, while playing up its artistic dimension and emphasising the value of a typically Spanish tradition
— Javier Sábada - philosopher
However, he also admitted that “those of us within the bullfighting world have not managed to explain it well”, arguing that the industry was good for the environment.
Bullfights no longer take place in some parts of Spain, such as the Canary Islands, where they have been banned since 1991, and Catalonia, where they have not returned after a temporary prohibition.
Last year, Mr Urtasun’s predecessor as culture minister, the socialist Miquel Iceta, was seen sitting next to King Felipe at a bullfight during the San Isidro festival in Madrid’s Las Ventas bullring, sparking some speculation that the government might introduce measures to support the activity. However, it did not and bullfighting remains an issue that pits left against right.
Many right-wing local governments provide substantial subsidies to support bull breeders and matador academies, as well as financing bullfights.
The philosopher Javier Sábada reacted to the controversy by noting that “those who defend bullfighting play down the suffering, while playing up its artistic dimension and emphasising the value of a typically Spanish tradition”.
He added: “Old-fashioned nationalism only provides cheap thrills.”
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