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Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) was finally granted a meeting with Kilmar Abrego García in El Salvador on Thursday evening, just hours after he accused Salvadorian officials of violating international human rights law in a press conference over their treatment of the deported Maryland father.
Van Hollen posted about the meeting on social media on Thursday evening. “I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return,” he said.
The senator is expected to discuss more details of the meeting on Friday.
A picture included in the post showed Van Hollen and Abrego García sitting at a table in what appears to be a restaurant or dining area. Abrego García appears to have his head shaved, treatment all those imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) are subjected to, and is wearing a checkered shirt and a Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl hat from 2022.
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele also posted about the meeting, posting a sarcastic comment downplaying the horrific conditions at CECOT, which has been likened to a concentration camp over the inhumane treatment of prisoners and the fact that no one has ever been released from the prison.
“Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture’, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!” said Bukele in a post on X.
He posted pictures of the meeting with cheery color grading, showing a table that appeared to be staged with glasses untouched by the men that looked like they were rimmed with salt and a maraschino cherry on top. The New York Times reported, citing a source familiar, that a Bukele aide indeed placed the glasses on the table “in the middle of their meeting in an attempt to stage the photo.”
Just hours before officials finally allowed Van Hollen to meet with Abrego García, his constituent, Van Hollen had pointed out in a press conference that officials were violating international law by denying Abrego García access to his legal counsel.
On Thursday afternoon, Van Hollen said that he was in a car on his way to CECOT when he was stopped by Salvadoran soldiers who were “ordered to prevent us” from advancing toward the facility, even as other cars were being let through. Officials were seemingly barring the Democrat from entry after the country’s vice president, Félix Ulloa, told him on Wednesday that he would not be allowed a meeting or even a phone call with Abrego García.
“I should point out that this inability to communicate with his lawyers is a violation of international law,” Van Hollen said in remarks after being denied entry to the prison.
“El Salvador is a party to the international covenant on civil and political rights,” he went on. “And that covenant says, and I quote, ‘a detained or imprisoned person shall be entitled to communicate and consult with his legal counsel.’”
Van Hollen added that officials have barred Abrego García’s wife from contacting him. Meanwhile, the U.S. embassy in El Salvador has not been instructed to check on the man’s well-being, he said.
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