an international union for the defense of bullfighting has been created

The future will tell if this union will be able to put in place actions likely to stem the attacks of anti-bullfighting. Friday May 10, the associations promoting and defending bullfighting from the eight bullfighting countries agreed to form a common organization, CICULT, the International Council of Bullfighting Cultures. This includes the French André Viard, president of the ONTC (national observatory of bullfighting cultures) and his colleague François Zumbiehl. In 2018, the associations of France, Portugal and Spain had already agreed on a union without taking concrete action. This time it was the South Americans who requested this pact. In Mexico and Colombia in particular, bullfighting is seriously threatened.

“The authorities, responsible for the promotion and defense of bullfighting and cultural freedom in the eight bullfighting countries, formed the International Council of Bullfighting Cultures (CICULT), and signed a collaboration agreement on Friday, May 10 at the Antonio Bienvenida hall of the Las Ventas bullring, the new organization indicates in a press release. Representatives of these organizations, personalities from the world of bullfighting and culture, and aficionados from all countries were present. The organizations which promote and defend the bullfighting cultures of countries where bullfighting is a tradition have met every month for more than four years, to share initiatives and experiences in the promotion, dissemination and defense of the cultural freedom of professionals, and especially of aficionados. After this period of fruitful exchanges, they decided to unite their efforts and formalize their collaboration agreement through the constitution of CICULT, in order to strengthen, through this union, their action in favor of bullfighting. The organizations that signed this agreement are: Fundación Toro de Lidia (Spain), National Observatory of Taurine Cultures (France), Protoiro (Portugal), Tauromaquia Mexicana (Mexico), Corporación Libertad Cultural de Colombia (Colombia), Asociación Cultural Taurina del Perú (Peru), Unión de Espectáculos Taurinos de Ecuador (Ecuador) and Asociación Venezolana de Tauromaquia (Venezuela)”.