Court overturns suspension of bullfighting events in Mexico’s Zacatecas state

Eight bullfights scheduled for Mexico’s 2026 Zacatecas National Fair can go ahead after an appeals court unanimously overturned the provisional suspension that had blocked them.

The Second Collegiate Court based in Zacatecas granted a complaint filed by the state government against a measure issued on Aug. 26 by a district judge. The original suspension followed a constitutional protection case brought by the civil association Proyecto Solovino.

Judge Valentín Arredondo said the association had not demonstrated the required legal interest to maintain the provisional protection. Judge Juan G. Sánchez Iriarte also pointed to the existing legal framework regulating bullfighting in Zacatecas.

Sánchez Iriarte noted that bullfighting in the state was declared Intangible Cultural Heritage under a decree approved by the local Congress on June 26, 2013. He said those rules carry a presumption of constitutionality unless a ruling determines otherwise, making the events currently lawful. He added that Proyecto Solovino’s case does not challenge the constitutionality of all regulations governing bullfighting in the state.

The court stressed that its ruling does not permanently close the dispute. A definitive suspension could still be considered later in the constitutional case. For now, the bullfights will proceed as planned to mark the 50th anniversary of the Monumental Zacatecas. The series begins Saturday, Sept. 5, with Spanish matador David Fandila, known as El Fandi, and Mexican matadors Isaac Fonseca, Juan Pablo Sánchez, Diego San Román and Uriel Moreno, known as El Zapata.