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Who was Antonio Céspedes Saldierna? Grave warning issued after Texas rancher, 74, killed by cartel IED in Mexico
Texas ranchers who are working near the southern border have been issued a grave warning after one of their own was killed by an IED.
Texas ranchers who are working near the southern border have been issued a grave warning after one of their own was killed earlier this month by an improvised explosive device (IED). Ranchers have been urged to exercise “extreme caution” when they travel through Mexico after the death of Antonio Céspedes Saldierna.
Who was Antonio Céspedes Saldierna?
Texas rancher Saldierna, 74, was killed by an IED while driving near his ranch in Tamaulipas, Mexico, just south of Brownsville, Texas, according to KRGV-TV. Not much is known about Saldierna except that he worked on both sides of the border.
Another individual named Horacio Lopez Peña was also killed, and his wife, Ninfa Griselda Ortega, was hospitalised with injuries.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner’s chilling warning
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller reportedly said in a statement that the explosion was part of a "growing threat posed by cartel activity along our southern border." He urged ranchers and those who work near the border to "exercise extreme caution."
"I encourage everyone in the agricultural industry to stay vigilant, remain aware of their surroundings, and report any suspicious activity to law enforcement. Additionally, you can avoid dirt roads and remote areas, refrain from touching unfamiliar objects that could be explosive devices, limit travel to daylight hours, stay on main roads, and avoid cartel-controlled regions," said Miller.
"Our agriculture family is the backbone of Texas, and we must do everything we can to protect it," he added.
Ramiro Céspedes, a US Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he was injured by an IED while he was deployed. "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," he said.
The State Department has already issued a travel warning for US citizens in Tamaulipas, noting how there is a high crime rate, including kidnappings, with violence between drug cartels on the rise. Recently, government officials in Tamaulipas warned of explosive devices on rural roads near the border between Reynosa and Rio Bravo.
"Armed confrontations between organized crime groups have left explosive substances and materials on agricultural roads, holes and fields that represent a latent risk to the people," it wrote in Spanish on a government Facebook page.
A Tamaulipas state police spokesperson told Channel 5 News that IEDs are placed by organised crime groups in an attempt to keep rivals away from their territory. Various cartels have been designated as foreign terrorist organisations by the Trump administration, including the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Cártel del Norte, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, the Gulf Cartel, and Cárteles Unidos.
