If you have learned anything ‘Spain emptied’ At this point there are no magic recipes against depopulation. In recent years, the administrations of that rural Spain that is gradually emptying have tried everything, often without success: from offering free employment and housing to assume the management of basic services, such as gas stations and stores. Now in Cantabria they have decided to add a new strategy against rural exodus to that list: subsidize bullfighting celebrations.
At the moment the measure does not seem to have served to attract new neighbors. What it is generating is controversy.
A cape for bullfighting. To understand the controversy we must go back to April 28, when the Official Gazette of Cantabria (BOC) published a call of subsidies from the Ministry of the Presidency. It basically announces a sum of 41,000 euros to “promote bullfighting in rural areas.” For this purpose, the Government offers to cover up to 90% of the expenses of the festivals that revolve around the bull, with amounts that range between 2,000 and 14,500 euros, depending on whether they are bullfights, bullfights, bullfights or other “popular celebrations.”
It matters what… and it matters where. So far nothing exceptional. Spain has been immersed for years in a debate (sometimes bronco) on bullfighting and whether or not it should be supported with public funds, but the Cantabrian initiative does not stand out precisely for its budget. In 2025, without going any further, the Community of Madrid approved a game of 1.7 million of euros to support the Bull Festival. What is striking about the Cantabrian case is that its objective is not only to support the ‘national holiday’. In fact, that is not even the main argument made in the call of the BOC. Its purpose is another: to fight against depopulation.
The subsidies are specifically directed at the 41 municipalities of the community at “risk of depopulation” and their objective appears clearly described in the official bulletin: “Encourage the aforementioned local entities to have resources that energize their social and economic life, such as bullfighting shows.” In short, use the bullfights, bullfights, bullfights, bullfights and other shows with bulls to revitalize the economy and establish population.
“Put them on the map”. In case there were any doubts, the counselor of the Presidency, Isabel Urrutia, recalled a few days ago that last year the Cantabrian Government financed bullfighting celebrations in four small municipalities of Cantabria, which in his opinion allowed “to put them in the focus of the bullfighting world.”
“We help with small aid to fight against depopulation and put these municipalities on the map, many of them with a great tradition of bullfighting. The aid is fulfilling its objective,” argues the counselor after remembering the case of Pesaguero: the town has 400 inhabitants, but in 2025 1,800 fans attended its bullfighting show.
What exactly do they subsidize? Low the argument that bullfighting can become a “stimulator of social and economic life”, the Cantabrian Government offers to assume up to 90% of the expenses of organizing the festivities, as long as they do not exceed certain limits: 14,500 euros in the case of bullfights or bullfighting, 10,000 if we are talking about bullfights with picadors or bullfighting of bulls, 6,000 for bullfights without picadors, calves or festivals and 2,000 for similar shows.
“To award aid, the Government will take into account the classification of the municipality as being at serious risk of depopulation or special and differentiating treatment for this reason, and also the type of show or celebration,” duck the regional executive.
Although it recognizes that there are 41 municipalities that meet the depopulation requirements to qualify for aid, in 2025 only bullfighting shows were subsidized in four town halls of the region: Pesaguero, Tudanca, Rasines and Bárcena de Pie de Concha. In 2024 there was one more, Molledo. This would be the third consecutive year in which subsidies have been announced that, they insist From the regional government, they are fulfilling the objective with which they were set.
Opinion division. Not everyone thinks the same. The Franz Weber Foundation has questioned that the initiative really serves to strengthen the economy of those localities or combat rural exodus, and provides data as proof: the number of residents who have won the subsidized town councils can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Literally.
“Four inhabitants in three years”, resume the organization, which estimates the funds mobilized between all the calls at 132,000 euros. The tables from the INE confirm that Bárcena de Pie de Concha only gained one neighbor between 2023 and 2025 and Rasines another five. Pesaguero and Tudanca lost population.
“They neither fix population nor suppose a real dynamic activity,” ditch the foundation. “The autonomous Executive has dedicated around 132,000 euros since 2024 under this excuse, but the population reality in the municipalities awarded in different calls shows an evident inability to have a positive impact.” In your opinionthe real purpose of the Cantabrian Government is another: “Support bullfighting using subterfuges such as depopulation.”
Images | Alex-David Baldi (Flickr) and Arild Andersen (Flickr)
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