Live free!: The cry for bullfighting in Mexico reaches Spain on Morante Day in Madrid.

With Juan Pedro's bulls in the pens, ready to enter the ring in a highly anticipated Beneficencia, the Mexican bullfighting scene, which Morante knows so well (who doesn't remember the maestro's stratospheric start to the 2016 Monumental bullfight, dressed in lilac and jet?), was rebelling against the prohibitions they suffer in their country. We've already seen the dire consequences that politicians can have on the festival in countries as important as Colombia.

"The Americas would be incomprehensible without Spain and without bullfighting ," explained Juan Antonio Hernández, a Mexican journalist. Spain brought religion and culture, including a festival so deeply rooted that next year will mark the 500th anniversary of the first bullfight (recorded in a letter from Hernán Cortés, "the first aficionado in Mexican lands," as Hernández called him). This was on the day of San Juan in 1526, five years before the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego.

Since there were no bulls in the Americas, they had to be brought from the Motherland, thus creating the first fighting bull ranch at that time: the Atenco ranch, located in the Toluca Valley. The first Spanish ranch was Raso de Portillo, established as a stud farm a couple of centuries later.

Therefore, Mexico could not be more historically connected to bullfighting, and its people feel this way. "The attack on bullfighting, unlike other countries, is purely political," explained Jorge Espinosa de los Monteros. It all started with López Obrador, who, while not anti-bullfighting, did champion the idea of ​​dividing the population, and this issue was partly at play, also due to his pro-indigenous policy. The current government is worse off, imposing laws by decree, far removed from what the social majority wants.

The Adame brothers railed against this prohibition that impairs freedoms. "With the amount of insecurity being created, it's incredible that they're only seeking to ban bullfighting, instead of providing security to citizens, most of whom are very bullfighting fans," said Luis David. What's certain is that Mexico won't let the fight be won. There are Isaac Fonseca, Diego San Román, Joselito, Luis David, and Alejandro Adame, or the bullfighter Emiliano Osornio (whom we'd love to see on the posters) triumphing in Spain, while standing up for bullfighting in their own country.

It's also true that Morante, favored by the Embudo de Insurgentes festival on his own merits, will once again listen to "Las golondrinas" while creating another work of art. But before that, let's hope he can give another masterclass at the Monumental de Ventas, during the Corrida de la Beneficencia, where he'll share the bill with the winners of last year's San Isidro: Fernando Adrián and Borja Jiménez.