• BOSS: Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is closing ranks with Pedro Haces Barba, the controversial leader of a relatively new federation of labor unions, who has been accused of attempted extortion as leader of private security workers, and is actively trying to create a new political party.
• ALLEGATIONS: Calling him “a friend”, López Obrador joined Haces Barba this week in the annual meeting of the organization he leads (known as CATEM). Arrested for car robbery and illegal firearm possession in 2009, Haces Barba is now a Senator for López Obrador’s party (MORENA).
• TIME MACHINE: “The threat was clear: Either you sign right now in a negotiated way. Or you submit to my conditions later.’ That’s how (Haces Barba) threatened us”, Luis Zamorano, then president of National Council of Private Security Firms, told Reforma newspaper back in the year 2000.
• LAS VEGAS: In his role as bullfighting promoter, Haces Barba made a name for himself in the US, as president of Don Bull Productions, a company that in 2009 brought a bloodless version of the sport to Las Vegas. In 2011, Haces Barba was honored with a star in the Las Vegas Walk of Stars.
