Bullfighting in Mexico: It's Brutal, Bloody, and Behind the Times Matt Calkins - U-T San Diego
go to original July 12, 2013

Tijuana - Bullring by the Sea. Bullfighter gets gored and walks away. (metube852)

TIJUANA, Mexico — They are called banderillas, barbed sticks that are thrust through the bull’s shoulders in order to agitate and weaken the animal before the matador takes center stage. And while they come in a variety of colors, the crowd at Plaza Monumental seemed particularly fond of the white ones, which best accentuate the blood.

I became especially aware of the spears when, a few minutes after the day’s fourth fight, I spotted a blood-soaked pair resting at a spectator’s feet. In the middle of his beer run, he had bought two of them as souvenirs.

Two months ago, I attended Tijuana's second bullfight of the season, but given my adverse relationship with nausea, I will not be attending the third on Sunday. The event regularly lures thousands of fans into the arena known as “Bullring by the Sea” and dozens of protesters to its gates.

Karla Cortes, a 32-year-old enthusiast from TJ, insists that if the picketers truly understood the sport, they’d know that the bulls are being “honored,” not tortured. And while there's a two-syllable response that I’d normally give to such an argument, I fear in this case it may offend the oppressed.

Read the rest at The San Diego Union-Tribune

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