Bullfighter gored to death while taunting animal at controversial festival

Warning: This article contains content which some readers may find distressing.

A bullfighter was gored to death while taunting an animal over the weekend.

The incident took place at the controversial festival, ‘corraleja’ (or bullfighting festival) in the small town of Fundación in the northern Colombian region of Magdalena.

Yovanis Márquez was part of the crowd at the event, where a grim video showed him running towards the bull on Saturday (9 August), alongside many other people participating in the deadly ‘fun’.

Reported to be 35, he’s topless in the clip as he gets tossed up into the air by the animal with its horns.

The ‘blood sport’ is illegal in most countries but remains legal in most of Spain, Portugal, France and the likes of the Philippines. Bullfighting is supposed to be phased out in Colombia with a full ban set for 2027.

However, the controversial practice remains popular with many, defined as an art form or cultural event in places like Spain.

But there are often reports of fighters and matadors being gored by the animals, with animal rights groups strongly opposing bullfighting.

In a video from the corraleja at the weekend, Márquez seems to charge at the bull and attempt to leap over it. However, he doesn’t manage to clear the jump, and the animal attacks him.

As onlookers scream, the man is helped up to his feet as he runs away from the bull and seems to be holding parts of his body as he scrambles about, unsteady.

Local reports say he later died from his injuries after being rushed to the hospital. One witness told El Tiempo: “He stood up as if he was fine, but the blood was flowing. It was only a few seconds before he fell to the ground.”

Colombian animal rights group Plataforma ALTO shared a clip of the horrific attack on social media.

“This is the moment when a man identified as Yovani Romo was struck by a bull at the corralejas in Fundación, Magdalena,” it wrote (in a post translated on X).

“The man passed away yesterday after being gored by an injured bull, in an act of self-defence, during the ‘festivities’ of the municipality.

“Last year, in Colombia, the ‘No más Olé’ law, authored by Senator Esmeralda Hernández, was passed, banning bullfights throughout the country.

“It is time to also say: NO MORE CORRALEJAS! Yes to prohibition, no to ‘regulations’.”

Colombia’s Congress passed the bill to ban bullfighting from 2027 last year. It allowed for a three-year transition period so that businesses tied to bullfighting could be offered help in finding alternative incomes.