Puerto Rico to approve cockfighting, defy federal ban [View all]

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By DANICA COTO

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico will defy the U.S. government and approve a law to keep cockfighting alive in a bid to protect a 400-year-old tradition practiced across the island despite a federal ban that goes into effect this week, officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday night.

The move brought cautious rejoicing in the cockfighting business despite concerns that the U.S. territory is trying to override a federal law that President Donald Trump signed a year ago.

“We are certainly challenging a federal law. We know what that implies,” Rep. Gabriel Rodríguez Aguiló, who co-authored the bill, told the AP.

He said that Gov. Wanda Vázquez was scheduled to sign the bill Wednesday morning and that he expected the fight to end up in federal court.


FILE - In this Oct. 19, 2003 file photo, man bets during a cockfight in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico will defy the U.S. government and approve a law to keep cockfighting alive in a bid to protect a 400-year-old tradition practiced across the island despite a federal ban that goes into effect this week, officials confirmed late Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Walter Astrada, File)


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