11:53 AM
A group of activists with the support of the mayor of Duitama, José Luis Bohórquez, and the director of Social Prosperity, Gustavo Bolivarthey knocked down the statue of bullfighter César Rincón in commemoration of World Anti-Bullfighting Day that was celebrated this Tuesday, June 25; with the argument of transform the bullrings as a meeting place for the entire population.
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The senator Esmeralda Hernandez, author of the #NoMásOlé Law that prohibited bullfighting in Colombia, was one of the participants in this act, with which they also announced a call that will allow all mayors in the country who have bullrings to “access resources to reconvert these scenarios; spaces that were previously for torture, for pain and for the blood of animals.”
The mayor of Duitama delivered these words after witnessing the event: “We decided to remove the statue honoring bullfighting and César Rincón. We decided to move it to another location, after maintenance. May the old bullring be a square for everyone. “That where there was death, today life is celebrated, with culture, sports and peasant markets.”
The controversy over the statue of César Rincón
While the group of left-wing activists and political leaders celebrate the decision to remove the statue, other political sectors have classified this act as violent and disrespectful to the culture and history of César Rincón, one of the most emblematic bullfighters in the country internationally.
“Imposing or stigmatizing tastes and symbols that represent a special value for certain citizen segments is not democratic in nature. Bullfighting César Rincón gave the country international renown. Does the progressive agenda include redefining what culture is through laws? wrote House representative Juana Carolina through her social network X.
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This act has been related to Pizarro’s recent hat, classified as Cultural Heritage of Colombia. Senator María Fernanda Cabal expressed: “The logic of the leftists in power. They destroy the monument of the bullfighter César Rincón in Bogotá; but they exalt the hat of the terrorist Carlos Pizarro of the M-19.”
What appears to be an act of transformation could trigger a legal problem, since this sculpture does not belong to the municipality, but to a group of 12 businessmen who love the bulls of the extinct Association of Friends of the César Rincón de Duitama Bullring.
“In short, by having damaged the sculpture made up of four statues that was not property of the municipality, nor did it have authorization from the owners or those who paid for it and which is a work of art that certainly was not part of the loan they had from the square, The municipality is exposed to a demand for direct reparation for damages caused to individuals, especially if you take into account the irreparable damage caused to the work by the way in which it was dismantled,” a lawyer told the newspaper Boyacá Sie7e Días.
For now, neither the defunct association nor the mayor of Duitama have commented on this potential legal problem that the demolition of this statue could represent.
