A U.S. Border Patrol agent who drowned last week while saving his children from a rip current while vacationing in South Padre Island had lost his father six months earlier to an explosion. Gulf Cartel gunmen had turned rural ranch roads in northern Mexico into minefields.
Last week, U.S. Border Patrol agent Eric Cespedes drowned as he rescued his children who were caught in a rip current while visiting the beach in South Padre Island, Texas. Information released by U.S. Border Patrol at the time highlighted Cespedes’ heroism, pointing out that while he saved his children, he did not survive.
As the Cespedes family deals with the loss of their loved one, the local Telemundo station reported that just six months earlier, the family lost its patriarch to an explosion in Mexico. According to the local station, 78-year-old Antonio Cespedes was the U.S. citizen who died in January when he unknowingly drove his truck over a cartel IED while visiting a ranch near the Mexican city of San Fernando, Tamaulipas.
Breitbart Texas first reported on the explosion in January and how the Gulf Cartel had been deploying IEDs and weaponizing drones to drop explosives on rivals and Mexican law enforcement as part of an ongoing turf war.
The vehicle used by a Texas man who died after driving over a cartel landmine in Mexico. (Credit: Breitbart Texas / Cartel Chronicles)
The widespread use of explosives by the cartel triggered a series of consular alerts and warnings after several innocent victims, including Cespedes, were injured or hurt by the hidden devices. To date, Mexican authorities have not made any arrests on the individuals responsible for setting up the explosive device that killed Cespedes.
Breitbart was the only outlet to report on how the Gulf Cartel had hired a former U.S. Army veteran to manufacture and teach them how to make explosives. The arrest of that veteran, William Louis Ahnert, in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas, was largely kept under wraps by Mexican authorities.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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