The "Little gypsy of America", a 61-year-old matador, fell headfirst into the dust after he was headbutted by a bull. He stood up as the crowd applauded and proceeded to kill the bull with a sword thrust to the back of its neck. 

He was among six veteran bullfighters performing for free on a recent Saturday in front of about 150 people at an emerald-green hacienda in Colombia’s Andes. The festival was to raise money for a foundation hoping to save the centuries-old tradition from a national ban being pushed by politicians who argue bullfighting is cruel and unethical.

“Colombia’s art and culture must endure,” the matador, Jelain Fresneda, said after the difficult bout, shaking the dust off his tight-fitting suit. “We need to ensure our freedoms are respected.”

It is worth noting that Colombia is one of just eight countries where bullfights are still legal. However, the tradition took blows around the world recently, with courts and municipal governments in cities like Barcelona, Medellin, and Mexico City issuing rulings that have discouraged the events.

A nationwide ban was approved by Colombia's Senate in December. The House of Representatives, which voted down an earlier ban in November, could take up the latest legislation in the coming weeks when it returns from its three-month recess. 

This will be a close vote in Colombia, where bullfights were held since colonial times but where public sentiments shifted against the practice over ethical considerations, just like elsewhere in the world. “We are talking about living and feeling beings,” said Andrea Padilla, a recently elected senator, and longtime animal rights activist who drafted the anti-bullfighting law.

“These are mammals with a nervous system that enables them to feel pain and suffering with the same intensity as humans ... and who shouldn’t be exposed to a slow and painful death.”

A ban on all bullfights within three years was proposed by Padilla's law, which also said that bullfights should be adjusted immediately so that the animals aren't killed in arenas or attacked with pikes and handheld harpoons called banderillas.