Emotional letter also criticises the resources available to protect officers

Maria Esther Garcia, the mother of Civil Guard Carlos Enrique Saenz de Tejada, who was killed in a bomb blast in Palma Nova last week, has called his killers ‘cowards and murderers’ and appealed for them to receive the ‘life in prison or the death penalty’ if they are caught.

In a letter published in a Burgos newspaper, Garcia also criticised the resources available to the Civil Guard, calling them ‘inadequate’. City barracks, she wrote, have no external monitoring or parking security. She recommended that more money be put aside to address these weaknesses.

But Garcia spoke warmly of the Civil Guard saying, “I give infinite thanks to the whole body of the Civil Guard, which has always given its support to us. I also thank the Mallorcan villagers and people of Burgos, the army and police, and the whole of Spain who wept for our son.”

Born in Burgos, northern Spain, Carlos Tejeda joined the Civil Guard last year at the age of 28. Recalling her son, Garcia said he was an unconditional supporter of Real Madrid, loved animals and had a special affection for his dog, Ron. A great patriot, the ring tone on Tejeda’s mobile phone was the Spanish national anthem.

Garcia went on to call the terrorists ‘sons of bitches’.

‘But that is not to excuse you,’ she went on, addressing the killers in her letter ‘I will not forgive you – I hate you.’

In a twist of fate, Tejeda’s cousin had been evacuated from his home following the bombing in Burgos the previous day.