Senator Van Hollen Says Salvadoran Officials Planted Drinks During Meeting with Abrego Garcia”

Senator Chris Van Hollen has dismissed a statement by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele that he and Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia casually drank margaritas during a recent meeting in El Salvador.

Bukele had written on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture’, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!”

Responding to Bukele’s social media post, which showed photos of the senator and Garcia sitting together and accused them of sipping margaritas while mocking previous concerns about mistreatment, Van Hollen said the drinks were placed on the table by Salvadoran government personnel and not ordered or consumed by him or Abrego Garcia.

“The first time I sat down with Kilmar, we had cups of water on the table, and I think maybe coffee. As we were talking, one of the government people came over and put two more cups on the table with ice and I don’t know if there was salt or sugar around the top. But it looked like margaritas,” Van Hollen said.

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The Sen says: “If you look at the one they put in front of Kilmar, it actually had a little less liquid than the one … in front of me to try to make it look — I assume — like he drank out of it. Let me just be very clear: Neither of us touched the drinks.”