During the weekend of November 29 to December 1, “youth bullfighting days” were held in Almería capital and the Almeria municipalities of Berja and Laujar de Andarax, organized by the Andalusian Youth Institute (IAJ), dependent on the Ministry of Social Inclusion, Youth, Families and Equality.
The events, for which around twenty young people between 14 and 16 years of age have signed up, included “training and practice in bullfighting with cape, banderillas and muleta”, and also participating in a capea, in which bullfighting was six calves in a bullring.
This is an activity that the Government of Juan Manuel Moreno has framed in the Co-Responsible Plan, financed with 190 million by the Ministry of Equality, and aimed at “promoting the conciliation of single-parent families, victims of sexist violence, unemployed and elderly women 45 years old, and families with adolescents and vulnerable young people up to 16 years old, through the development of recreational-sports activities.”
In 2021, the Ministry agreed with the communities to distribute this money so that the regional governments could create a public network of professional caregivers and training activities that would care for children while their mothers worked.
The mixed group Adelante Andalucía has disgraced the Ministry of Equality this Tuesday for having used the funds and regulatory framework of the Co-Responsible Plan to “organize fights with minors.” His spokesman, José Ignacio García, has registered a written question to the Moreno Government to give explanations in Parliament. Teresa Rodríguez’s party wants to know how much these sessions – paid for with public subsidies – have cost, which companies have participated in their organization and promotion, and what relationship the Board finds between this activity and the Co-Responsible Plan.
Sources from the Ministry of Equality downplay the criticism made by Teresa Rodríguez’s party and assure that the activity “is perfectly normal and legal and that it has been very well received and in high demand.” “It is one of the 60 recreational activities that the IAJ has organized, it has done so by previously speaking with youth associations and local entities,” they say from the department of Loles López.
From the department they remember that bullfighting was declared cultural heritage in 2013, it is deeply rooted in Andalusian culture and the Moreno Government has also defended and promoted the Bullfighting Schools, where future matadors are trained.
In February of last year, the Supreme Court annulled the exclusion of bullfighting shows from the scope of application of the Youth Cultural Bonus – of 400 euros – that the Government of Pedro Sánchez designed so that young people could spend it when they turned 18. The judges stressed that bullfighting has “its cultural, historical and artistic dimensions” recognized by law and alleged “lack of justification” to eliminate it from the list of activities in which the program’s money can be invested.
The youth bullfighting days organized by the Andalusian Youth Institute consisted of training and practices of bullfighting, with different passes with cape, banderillas and muleta, which facilitates the acquisition of skill and ease. It took place on November 30 at the Almería Fairgrounds, Almería Municipal Bullfighting School.
The young people participated in events of coexistence with outdoor training throughout the day, both on November 29, with travel from Almería to Laujar de Andarax and dinner; like on Saturday the 30th, hiking to do sports and, in the process, get to know the area of the source of the Andarax River and the routes of the Laujar and Fuente Victoria irrigation ditches. In the afternoon they did training in the Laujar de Andarax bullring, as explained by the IAJ itself in a note published on its website.
On Sunday, December 1, bullfighting practice took place in a tentadero to develop everything learned in bullfighting and theoretical knowledge. “The most advanced and prepared students bullfighted six calves in the Berja bullring” and the days concluded with a meal in the same bullring.
The provincial head of the IAJ in Almería, Diego Martínez Pérez, explains that the general objective of this project “is to improve the quality of life of adolescents, by carrying out recreational-sports activities, receiving special training in bullfighting.” And he adds that “with the development of the different actions, the aim is to promote healthy lifestyle habits among the young population, while contributing to the reconciliation of family and work life in those adolescents with fewer opportunities.”
#Andalusia #organizes #bullfighting #practices #calves #minors #part #state #family #conciliation #plan
