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News > Latin America

Mexican Billionaire Denounces Threats by Top Televisa Anchor

  • Businesswoman Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala is chairperson of Tresalia Capital and has a net worth of over US$5 billion.

    Businesswoman Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala is chairperson of Tresalia Capital and has a net worth of over US$5 billion. | Photo: AFP

Published 27 August 2015
Opinion

Mexico’s wealthiest woman has accused Joaquin Lopez Doriga of threatening to “destroy her” in his television news program.

Mexico's wealthiest woman, Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala, has accused one of the country's most influential journalists, Joaquin Lopez Doriga, of threatening to “destroy her.”

The case has turned into a scandal, exposing the power influential journalists like Lopez wield in the corruption-soaked nation of Mexico.

"He threatened me, he said that if I say something I will know what it is to have all the media against me,” Aramburuzabala told daily newspaper Reforma.

The dispute began when the billionaire filed a lawsuit against the journalist's wife, who allegedly extorted her by asking for US$5 million in exchange for allowing her to continue her real estate development project in the exclusive Mexico City neighborhood Polanco.

Lopez's wife and four of their neighbors complained the 122-luxury-apartment complex affected their interests.

Lawyers for Aramburuzabala, who claim to have all building permits in order, have presented an audio in which an attorney says, “On behalf of Teresa Adriana Perez Romo (Lopez Doriga's wife) and other neighbors of Polanco, I demand 5 million dollars.”

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Meanwhile, Lopez said that his wife’s lawyer was asking the sum as compensation for alleged damages caused by the construction.

"I do not care how long it takes, I do not care how much I have to spend in lawyers. It's a shame to see educated people doing this, people with money and power, it makes me sick," the businesswoman said.

Aramburuzabala is the chairperson of Tresalia Capital and has a net worth of over US$5 billion. She was the prior owner of Mexico’s largest brewery, Grupo Modelo, before it was sold to Anheuser Busch. She was also married to Tony Garza, the former U.S. ambassador to Mexico.

Lopez works for television network giant Televisa and hosts the most widely viewed news program in Mexico. He is well known for his close ties with the Mexican business class and for being an ally of President Enrique Peña Nieto.

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