Dodgers pitcher, horse racing jockeys linked to cockfighting in Puerto Rico
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A Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher and two of the top jockeys in horse racing were allegedly linked to illegal cockfighting in Puerto Rico through social media posts, according to reporting from USA Today.The article, published Thursday, highlights social media posts advertising cockfighting tournaments that picture three-time All-Star closer Edwin Díaz in his Dodgers uniform and an article in El Nuevo Día, the largest circulating newspaper in Puerto Rico, quoting Díaz.
Brothers and jockeys Jose Ortiz and Irad Ortiz, who finished first and second, respectively, in the Kentucky Derby this month were advertised as participants in a cockfighting tournament in 2025, according to the outlet.Representatives for Díaz and the Ortiz brothers did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
Diaz and the Ortiz brothers were born in Puerto Rico where cockfighting has been a longstanding cultural tradition, a massive industry and a source of tension between the U.S.territory and the federal government.
In 2019, a federal law banning cockfighting took effect in Puerto Rico.Before the law, the blood sport had been made illegal in all 50 states, but not U.S.
territories.Many Puerto Ricans saw the ban as an attack on their culture and vowed to defy the law.
Puerto Rico responded by passing a law saying that it’s legal to host cockfights as long as people don’t export or import the animals or any goods or services related to cockfighting.The U.S.
Supreme Court in 2021 declined to hear a challenge to the federal law brought by a group that argued Congress exceeded its power by applying the ban to Puerto Rico.In the El Nuevo Día story, which published in March, Díaz is quoted talking about cockfighting, saying it was a pastime he’d followed since he was a child.
He was attending a tournament in which his family entered four roosters, according to the article.“It’s l...