BROWNSVILLE, TX – The Texas agriculture commissioner is urging farmers, ranchers and agricultural workers who travel to Mexico or operate near the border to exercise extreme caution.
He cited the growing threat of drug cartel activity.
The warning comes after a Brownsville, Texas, rancher was killed by an explosive device on his ranch in Mexico.
Antonio Céspedes Saldierna died after driving over and setting off the device in Tamaulipas, south of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Antonio Céspedes Saldierna created a lasting legacy through his family and his ranch.
That’s how Ramiro Céspedes wants his dad to be remembered.
“He was always worried about some cattle that he has,” Ramiro Céspedes said.
A trip to his ranch in the Santa Rita area of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, ended up being his last.
Antonio Céspedes Saldierna was driving his pickup truck on the ranch when authorities confirmed that he drove over and set off the explosive device.
“I’m angry. I’m sad. I’m confused. I’m in shock,” Ramiro Céspedes said.
Ramiro Céspedes is a U.S. Army veteran who served several missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He was injured by an IED on his deployment and says he could never imagine his father would fall victim to one back home on his ranch.
“I consider this a terrorist attack because if I went to war to fight terrorists and I’m seeing the same thing here, to me, my personal opinion, it is a terrorist attack,” Ramiro Céspedes said.
Horacio Lopez Pena and his wife Ninfa Griselda Ortega, two of Antonio Céspedes Saldierna’s longtime friends, were also inside the truck at the time.
Tamaulipas State Police said Pena also died in the explosion. Ortega survived, but she was injured.
The government of Tamaulipas has recently warned people of explosive devices on rural roads near the border between Reynosa and Rio Bravo, heading south to the limits with San Fernando and Valle Hermoso.
A Tamaulipas State Police spokesperson assured the improvised explosive devices are placed by organized crime to keep opposing factions off their territory.
Two weeks ago, an IED destroyed a pickup truck from Mexico’s federal water agency Conagua, near Rio Bravo.
Ramiro Céspedes wants to see change so another loved one doesn’t fall victim.
“They’re hard-working people. They want to continue their lives there, but it’s other individuals coming in. It’s not them fighting each other,” Ramiro Céspedes said.
