By Phyllis M. Daugherty Sonora has become the first Mexican state to ban bullfighting, recently passing the long-awaited Animal Protection Law addressing cruelty to animals.

In a statement on Formato 21 radio, Perez Rubio hailed the unanimous vote on May 2 by the legislature of Mexico’s northwestern border state.

“It has caused quite a stir because we are the first state of the republic to pass this law. I really didn’t expect–I say this with all the honesty in the world–I didn’t expect the repercussion this would have, nationally and internationally,” said local lawmaker of the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico, or PVEM, Vernon Perez Rubio, the Global Post reports.

His party explained in a media release that the law “not only bans bullfighting” but “also protects other domestic animals.”

The PVEM said the new law in Sonora puts them “a step closer to achieving one of the goals the Green Party has fought for, which is the prohibition of bullfighting nationwide.” The party states that “clearly more than 70 percent of Mexicans are against the continuation” of bullfights in the country, on the basis of several public opinion polls.

In Sonora, citizens’ demand for an end to bullfighting began two years ago, when a crowd of 18,200 came out before a bullfight was to start to ask that the spectacle by banned, Perez Rubio said.

Unfortunately, the law does not include the very popular spectacle of cockfighting, local legislative officials said Saturday. Rubio explained, “I’m against cockfighting. However, if we included a discussion on that subject, the law would never have passed.”

“Now with the law in place, it’s very easy to launch a movement to end cockfighting if that’s what people want,” Perez Rubio said.