After the Constitutional Points Commission of the Congress of Mexico City decided to analyze the preferred citizen initiative that seeks to prohibit various practices such as bullfighting, novice fights, calf fights, horseback bullfighting, tienta, and cockfighting in the capital, Jesús Sesma, coordinator of the PVEM Parliamentary Group, called on the president of the legislative body, Daniela Álvarez, to approve the proposal and put an end to animal cruelty in these types of spectacles.
Sesma believes that the process of ruling on the citizen initiative is an opportunity for local deputies to comply with animal welfare and emphasized that it is the right time for the commission chaired by Daniela Álvarez to act and end bullfighting in Mexico City by the year 2025.
Regarding the request from a civil association, a committee, and residents of indigenous towns to hold citizen consultations to rule on the citizen initiative, Sesma explained that the SCJN has already determined that the right of indigenous peoples to be consulted is not absolute, and that it is not necessary to consult them on all state decisions, including the prohibition of bullfighting.
Jesús Sesma, also president of the Political Coordination Board, stated that the requested consultation is not appropriate, as both the SCJN and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have established that the civil association and the committee do not meet the requirements to be consulted in this case as they are legal entities.
Regarding the deadline to discuss the initiative that prohibits bullfighting, Jesús Sesma pointed out that, according to the Organic Law of the Congress of Mexico City, the rulings on preferred initiatives must be discussed and voted on by the Plenary within a maximum of 45 days from their presentation, which means that the citizen initiative must be debated before February 21. Sesma affirmed that this deadline would begin when the IECM confirms to Congress that the initiative meets the requirements, which already occurred several days ago.
