Puerto Rico Forced to Cancel Cockfights
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Puerto Rico halted all bird imports Thursday after a rare outbreak of avian flu in nearby Dominican Republic, where authorities killed more than 100 chickens, including fighting roosters that tested positive for the lethal virus.
The cancellation of the fights could cost the industry millions of dollars in lost revenue from people who come to watch or enter their birds, said Carlos Quinones, the cockfighting director for the island’s sports and recreation department.
“The matches were already organized, and people had already requested their visas and made hotel reservations,” said Quinones, who added that fights involving foreign roosters can draw as many as 900 people.
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The island has more than 100 licensed cockfighting pits where roosters peck and kick each other with plastic spurs. About 200,000 fights are held each year, with annual ticket sales of up to $12 million, Quinones said.
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(Posted on January 8, 2008)
Comments
If PR statehood ever comes up, perhaps we can use this is a strategic argument that we could present Puerto Ricans to oppose statehood — that they would have to ban these fights if they were to become a state.
Posted by St. Louis CofCC Blogmeister at 6:18 PM on January 8
“Cockfights and independence!” It’s not quite Thomas Paine, but I’m convinced. Let PR out of the American Empire.
Posted by Schoolteacher at 8:53 PM on January 8
I can’t for the very life of me understand why America doesn’t give Puerto Rico its independence, whether P.R. wants it or not. The U.S. has owned this backward island since 1898 when you bullied Spain into a needless war and began the march to empire. What advantage does possession of P.R. offer to Americans? Economically it has been a dead loss from day one. From operation bootstrap in the 1950’s until today P.R. has been a net drain to the American treasury and taxpayer. There is no oil there, no vital raw materials. Peurto Ricans have engaged in acts of political terrorism against Americans (President Truman came within an inch of being killed by them) and have used their status as U.S. citizens to flood into America. The USA would be much better off without this miserable Spanish-speaking place.
Posted by at 10:24 PM on January 8
When I lived in Cleveland and Lorain, Ohio I encountered many ‘Ricans. They were about as dumb and useless a people as you could ever meet Not much better than blacks…and even after several generations in the U.S. they still considered themselve Puerto Ricans first and foremost and they ALL spoke Spanish and had accents, even if they were born here.
They don’t want Puerto Rico to have it’s independence because they can come here without passports and live here because it’s a territory of the U.S. This also entitles them to welfare and all public programs including Social Security.
Posted by James at 11:54 PM on January 8
On the sea of noise that is the radio’s AM band, I recently heard a doctor predict that when the avian flu invariably finds its way to humans, society will be so overwhelmed and chaotic that it would be wise for everyone to own a gun for protection. This was a doctor (!) advising his listeners to use guns.
Posted by Robert Binion at 6:04 AM on January 9
Someone once asked me where I stood on the Puerto Rico question: if I favored the status quo, or statehood, or independence. Although I try to keep up on most political topics, frankly I’m bored silly by most talk of Puerto Rico (and by most Puerto Ricans), and I had no analysis to offer.
So I instead replied, “I’m in favor of whatever will make Puerto Ricans stay in Puerto Rico. I support whatever stops them from coming here.”
And now, thanks to AmRen, we learn that watching chickens peck each other to death is such a large local industry that cancelling a few fights “could cost the [tourist] industry MILLIONS OF DOLLARS in lost revenue”; and that the island’s sports and recreation department actually has its own Cockfighting Director (!). This new information only confirms for me that my quip about “keeping them in PR” — however glib and facile — was also valid and correct.
A side note: In NYC, the largest single nationality had, for the entire 20th Century, always been Italian-Americans. As of the 1996 census, the city’s Italian-heritage population was for the first time knocked out of the #1 spot by the Ricans. Anybody here think that change is a good thing for New York, or for America? Because I sure don’t.
Posted by The Incredible Shrinking White Man at 9:29 AM on January 9
“But in Puerto Rico, the sport is still legal and remains big business.”
Of course it’s still legal in Puerto Rico. Name one third world hell hole comprised of mentally deficient rabble that doesn’t utilize the torture and abuse of little animals as a form of recreation for their evil hides.
Posted by Robert Kelly at 3:51 PM on January 9
If we “cut loose” PR, it would simply turn to Cuba and Venezuela.
Posted by Whiteplight at 4:25 PM on January 9
“This was a doctor (!) advising his listeners to use guns.”
Say, didn’t we see that in the Charlton Heston movie: “The Omega Man?”
Posted by at 9:40 PM on January 9
Whiteplight:
Your logic escapes me. P.R. has been under U.S. authority for 110 years. Has it switched to being English-speaking? Is it economically successful? Let this money-pit go. We can still trade with P.R. but let them go. What do you mean “it will go like Cuba”? The cold war is over friend. We should be trading with Cuba too.
Posted by at 4:57 PM on January 10
How does possession of Puerto Rico improve or enrich the lives of Americans? For god’s sake let this worthless island go.
Posted by at 2:06 AM on January 11