The young Spanish bullfighter

Marco Pérez

, 15, and the bullfighter Niña Mariana Mantilla have been forced to suspend their participation in the Cali Bullfighting Fair to avoid the ban on festivities in this arena, as announced by the Colombian Government.

The Colombian Ministry of Labor ordered the "immediate prohibition" of activities in the Cañaveralejo bullring, where the bullfights of the traditional

Cali Fair are currently held,

due to the inclusion of minors in the cartel.

The Cali Fair, which began on December 25, includes bullfights and other bullfighting festivities in which teenagers such as

Marco Pérez,

who was going to debut this Thursday, and

the "girl Mariana Mantilla

", who participated in the "Amazon for the Cali Fair" activity.

For this reason, Terry Hurtado, city councilor, filed a guardianship alleging that the Constitution provides that "children will be protected against labor or economic exploitation and risky work" and

that minors must be protected from work

that "by their nature or the conditions in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children".

The Ministry of Labor responded with the order to immediately paralyze and prohibit the activities in the Cañaveralejo bullring scheduled from today until December 30 and in the same way to

seal the bullring.

The mayor of Cali,

Jorge Iván Ospina,

assured that the Secretary of Security is already moving to the square and that the "closure is imminent."

"The bullfights (are) deplorable but nothing more aberrational than putting children to fight," said the mayor on his Twitter account.

This Wednesday came the reaction of the bullfighters and the Cali public.

The right-handers

Alejandro Talavante, Emilio de Justo

and the Peruvian

Andrés Roca Rey

invited Marco Pérez to come out and say hello from the tercio, a gesture that was received with a standing ovation by the audience, which practically filled the arena.

Colombia has vigorously resumed the debate on banning this type of festivities in recent months, with a bill that is advancing in Congress to put an end to these traditional festivities of Spanish heritage and which are no longer celebrated in cities such as Bogotá and Medellín.

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