Reynosa mayor sues Entravision station

Veronica Villafañe

11 years ago

The mayor of Reynosa has sued KNVO-48, the Entravision-owned Univision affiliate in McAllen, for libel.

Reynosa Mayor Everardo Villarreal and his father, Arturo Villarreal have filed a $1 million lawsuit against Univision affiliate KNVO-TV 48 in McAllen, TX claiming the station libeled them.

The lawsuit filed last Thursday at the Hidalgo County Courthouse also names station news director and co-anchor Marianela Aguirre and parent company Entravision Communications.

According to The Monitor, the lawsuit alleges that a story aired May 17 on KNVO-TV 48 published on its website and replayed in local Entravision radio stations falsely accused Arturo Villarreal of getting arrested by U.S. authorities with a large sum of bulk cash.
According to the lawsuit: “Defendants knew that any reasonable person hearing or seeing these stories would conclude that Arturo Villarreal Tijerina was a criminal, a drug trafficker and probably connected to the Mexican drug trade.”

Because Arturo Villarreal was identified in the story as the father of Reynosa mayor, the lawsuit alleges the image of Everardo Villarreal was also tarnished and that the airing of KNVO’s story picked up steam in other media outlets online and in Mexico “feeding the rumor about the arrest even further.”

The Monitor reports requests for comment from Entravision Communications, Aguirre and KNVO-TV 48 Univision in McAllen went unanswered.