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 Travel & Outdoors | May 2007 
This Year's Running of Bulls Canceled in San Miguel
 Bob Kelly - The Herald Mexico
| | The eight 1,000-pound training bulls originally chased participants over a several-block course while thousands watched from barricades. |
San Miguel de Allende, Gto. - The city council has canceled the 34th annual Sanmiguelada (running of the bulls) to prevent a repeat of last year´s event that a former mayor said turned the Historic District into a "big cantina."
Mayor Jesús Correa Ramírez confirmed Wednesday that the council had voted to cancel the controversial event after the city´s press office prematurely emailed a news release Tuesday announcing the decision.
Business owners had refused to agree to the city´s request that they contribute US$500,000 to provide increased security.
Instead, associations representing hotel and restaurant owners proposed the city collect 50 pesos (US$4.50) from people entering the city during the Sanmiguelada weekend.
Correa scoffed at the proposal, asserting it would violate the Constitution by limiting "the freedom of transit" of people coming to San Miguel.
Last year´s event drew about 50,000 persons, more than double previous crowds, resulting in an increase in public drinking, urinating and vomiting, mainly by young people, despite the presence of some 400 security and emergency personnel.
Former Mayor Luis Alberto Villarreal, who was elected to the Senate last year, faulted the city for not enforcing a 24-hour dry law that banned bars and restaurants from selling drinks for public consumption as well as drinking in the open.
He also criticized bar and restaurant owners for charging high admission fees, making it more attractive for people to drink in the streets, turning the central area into a "big cantina."
In addition to the public drunkenness, two young men were wounded by gunfire during a fight after the event about a block away on Calle San Francisco.
Correa and other officials also have expressed concern that another out-of-control event would endanger the city´s chances of being named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2008.
Correa, Villarreal and Guanajuato Gov. Juan Manuel Oliva had said they were optimistic about the city´s chances after presenting an application in Paris last February. Correa noted recently that a UNESCO team will make an inspection trip to San Miguel in September and then issue a report that will be crucial to the bid.
Although the Sanmiguelada supposedly is patterned after the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, it could more aptly be called "the taunting of the bulls."
The eight 1,000-pound training bulls originally chased participants over a several-block course while thousands watched from barricades. In recent years, the action has been confined to the streets and plaza on the four sides of the Jardín, allowing the participants to encircle tired bulls for more than an hour, pulling their horns and tails and snapping at them with red scarves. |
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