Below you will find an overview of the most important news items of November 2011:

-         On Sunday November 20 national elections were held in Spain. The Conservative Party PP (Partido Popular) has won the election with an absolute majority. Unfortunately, the PP is a party that supports and promotes bullfighting: right after the election, they announced the plans to recommence broadcasting bullfights on the Spanish national television (RTVE). Earlier this year RTVE decided to stop the broadcast of bullfights on television because these were too violent for children. A petition has been launched to prevent the broadcast of bullfights by RTVE. You can protest here!

-         Recently CAS International found out that there are plans in Oran (Algeria's second city) to organize a bullfight in January 2012. Oran has a bullring that has been renovated by the municipality in 2010. Since the 90s the arena has not been used for bullfights anymore but for cultural, social and political purposes instead. Now the municipality of Oran wants to inaugurate the arena with a bullfight. CAS International initiated a protest to prevent the organization of a bullfight in Algeria. You can protest here!

-         The Archbishop of Maracaibo (Venezuela), Monseñor Ubaldo Santana, demanded during a Mass that bullfights should not take place during the local festivities (Feria de la Virgen de Chiquinquirá) in Maracaibo. He believes that bullfighting should be stopped because it is an atrocity against animals. It is very unusual that a representative of the Catholic Church speaks openly against bullfighting. You can see the video of the Archbishop expressing his opinion here (spoken in Spanish).

-         During the festivities of Maracaibo there was little enthusiasm for visiting the bullfights: the stands of the arena were empty and there were hardly any tickets sold for the bullfight.

Bullring in Maracaibo during festivities

-         Our Peruvian sister organization Perú Antitaurino has begun to collect signatures for a citizens legislative initiative that aims to ban bullfighting in Peru. Similarly as in Catalonia, Perú Antitaurino wants to raise a debate about the ban on the political agenda. To achieve this, Perú Antitaurino must gather 60,000 signatures. We wish Perú Antitaurino good luck with this initiative!