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Brownsville man speaks out after father killed in IED blast in Tamaulipas

By: Santiago Caicedo

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Burial services were held Tuesday for a 74-year-old Brownsville man who died in Tamaulipas.

Antonio Céspedes Saldierna died after driving over and setting off an explosive device on Friday.

One other man died in the explosion that also injured a woman, Tamaulipas officials said.

Ramiro Céspedes said he wants his father to be remembered as a man who created a lasting legacy through his family and his ranch.

According to Ramiro, his father was driving on his ranch in the Santa Rita area of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, when he set off the explosive device.

“I'm sad, I'm confused, I'm in shock,” Ramiro said.

Ramiro is a U.S. Army veteran who served several missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said he was injured by an Improvised Explosive Device — or an IED — on his deployment. Ramiro said 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 said.

Two individuals — identified as Horacio Lopez Peña and his wife Ninfa Griselda Ortega — were in the truck with Antonio when the IED was triggered.

According to Tamaulipas State Police, Lopez died in the explosion. Ortega was hospitalized but her condition was not immediately available.

The government of Tamaulipas 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.

In an interview with Channel 5 News, a Tamaulipas state police spokesperson said the IEDs are placed by organized crime to keep opposing factions off their territory.

Last month, an IED destroyed a pick-up truck from Mexico’s federal water agency near Rio Bravo.

Ramiro said he wants to see change so another loved-one doesn’t fall victim to an IED.

“They're hard-working people, they want to continue their lives there in the ejido, but it's other individuals coming in, it's not them fighting each other,” Ramiro said.

Watch the video above for the full story.

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