Madrid's bullfighting 'ritual' acclaimed and contested

When the bull collapses and dies in front of the matador, silence descends on Madrid's bullfighting ring, a "ritual" that its French manager Simon Casas vigorously defends in an increasingly conflictive climate.

Around 500,000 enthusiasts are expected to descend on Madrid's Las Ventas arena during the month-long Feria de San Isidro, the Spanish capital's biggest bullfighting festival.

But now more than ever, activists and politicians are getting involved as regional and municipal elections loom on Sunday.

Madrid's outgoing left-wing mayor has promised "corridas" (bullfights) "without blood or death".

But the conservatives and far-right defend a "tradition" associated with Spanish identity. To make their point, they enlisted three "toreros" (bullfighters) as candidates for April's general election.

"I don't know anyone who loves the fighting bull more than the torero," says Casas, a 71-year-old former matador, as he strolls through Las Ventas, built in 1929.

It "is never an enemy for the torero but a glorified partner." In a corral next to the ring, visitors measure up these "fighting bulls" that have been reared solely for combat and sometimes weigh more than 600 kilos (1,300 pounds).

"If I had to be an animal, I wouldn't want to be a kitten or a doggie but a fighting bull," says Casas.

"I'd die, yes, but... I would make my destiny glorious."
Onlookers whistle with disapproval at another matador as "the bull suffers too much," adds his wife, Paqui Fernandez, pulling a face. "He killed it badly."
Calling corridas a "show of cruelty," author Manuel Rivas published an opinion piece earlier this month asking Spain to renounce the "art of killing."