VILLAFRANCA DE LOS CABALLEROS, Spain (AP) – Bullfights or schoolbooks? A new breed of local officials in Spain are asking.
Julian Bolanos, the mayor of this central Spanish town of around 5,000 inhabitants, recently announced he was taking the 18,000 euros ($20,000) in public funding for bullfights to invest it in textbooks and other educational material.
Days before, his new leftist counterpart in the northwestern city of A Coruna withdrew 50,000 euros in bullfight subsidies and vowed to find a better way to spend it.
The measures may be surprising in a country where bullfights are an emblematic part of the culture and a traditional fixture in nearly every town’s summer festival. But they are not unusual: Since May 24 local elections, the ruling, pro-bullfighting, conservative Popular Party has been ousted from town halls and regional governments across the country and replaced by leftist coalitions that are questioning funding for bullfights – seen as a luxury in times of economic hardship.
“Of every 10 people that come to me, nine ask for work or help, not one has come to me asking for bullfights,” Bolanos, a Socialist party member, told The Associated Press. His town, like most of Spain, suffered severely in the economic crisis that has left the country with 22 percent unemployment.