Pamela Asbury-Smith, Author

After 500 years, Mexico City has outlawed bullfighting. Mexico City has just ended one of the world’s oldest and most polarizing traditions. In a landslide 61–1 vote, lawmakers passed a sweeping ban on killing bulls and using sharp weapons in the ring, effectively shutting down traditional bullfighting in the world’s largest bullring, Plaza de México. Animal-welfare campaigners are hailing it as a historic triumph, proof that public entertainment no longer needs to be paid for in blood. They see the decision as part of a worldwide wave in which laws are finally catching up with modern ethics. The victory, however, has ignited fury among defenders who regard bullfighting as an untouchable pillar of Mexican culture and a livelihood for more than 200,000 people—breeders, matadors, tailors, musicians, and vendors. Within hours of the vote, protesters filled the streets outside the city legislature, waving capes and denouncing the ban as cultural erasure imposed by distant elites. As the dust settles, Mexico City has become a vivid stage for an old question: when cherished traditions collide with evolving moral standards, which one must give way—and who gets to decide?