The fourteenth bill was the right one: On Tuesday, May 28, with 93 votes in favor and only two votes against, the House of Representatives of Colombia adopted a law to put an end to bullying. The new legislation must still be approved by President Gustavo Petros, the primary anti-war activist in the coming weeks, but it will not take effect until 2027. This period is supposed to allow professional bullies to revive.
The result of the vote does not reflect the difficulties that have been taken up in this law, nor the intensity of the tension between bulling enthusiasts who defend the ancient art and tradition, and those who judge bulling as an outdated bloody spectacle. In fact, thirteen other proposals were made to the Assembly during the seven years before this last one.
“We knew it would be easy, but we didn’t think how strong the pro-bullfighting lobby would be.”recognizes the deputy Alejandro Garcia, member of the House of Representatives and the ecological party Alianza Verde, one of the authors of the bill.
The members of the conservative opposition, aware of this fact, tried to prevent their minority from getting the necessary bill absent at the time of the vote. However, a majority is required to collect the number of participants. “Of which it was 94 and we collected 95 votes!” It is historic! »takes Alejandro Garcia. The president of the country’s first left wing immediately took a vote aiming at the adoption of a cross-party law on social networks 10: Congratulations to those who finally chose to make death unspectacular. »
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This welcome political success comes when the social reforms promised in the campaign materialize. When he was mayor of Bogotá in 2012, Gustavo Petro was already banned from using infrastructure and public funds for bullying. In 2023, the Constitutional Court overturned the decision, stating that it was bullish “a living manifestation of the spiritual and historical tradition of the Ibero-American peoples like Colombia”.
Bullying supporters could hope that an appeal to the high court could still meet the vote of Congress. “From now on, it is up to the constitutional court to decide the future of fighting in Colombia.” declared on 10 Juana Carolina Londoño, a member of the Conservative Party, who laments that many families risk being unemployed after the end of this tradition.