Bulwark Takes - Senator Confirms Abrego Garcia Alive, While Bukele Makes Sick Jokes

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

Tim Miller takes on the latest developments with Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, with photos confirming Senator Van Hollen was granted a meeting after demanding access for Garcia to legal counsel, and confronting Bukele’s regime on international human rights violations. Meanwhile, El Salvador’s President Bukele turned the moment into a sickening propaganda stunt with cruel mockery, trolling with sick jokes.

Hey guys, it's Tim Miller from The Bulwark. We have breaking news. Kilmar Abrego-Garcia is alive and was able to meet with Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland earlier this evening. We have now heard both from Senator Van Hollen and from El Salvador President Bukele separately on social media with very different tones. So I want to give you a run-through of what happened. There's obviously some modest good news. There's also a lot to be concerned about yet still. with very different tones. So I want to give you a run through of what happened. You know, there's obviously some modest good news. There's also a lot to be concerned about yet still. So earlier today, Van Hollen was in El Salvador, met with the vice president, was banging down on the door, tried to get access to Abrego Garcia. He gave a press conference in El Salvador that I think was pretty significant because there he made the case that not giving Abrego Garcia access to a lawyer violated El Salvador's international political

covenant that they had signed. And this is going to be important. So I want to watch a little bit of Senator Van Hollen talking about that earlier. This inability to communicate with his lawyers is a violation of international law. El Salvador is a party to the international covenant on civil and political rights. And that covenant says, and I quote, a detained or imprisoned person shall be entitled to communicate and consult with his legal counsel, unquote. I should say also on this trip, I met with some representatives of human rights and civil society groups who expressed concerns about many things, including the inability to communicate with prisoners in Sikak. It's interesting that he said that and then El Salvador responded, because that might be a pressure point in the future, seeing as that would mean that the Venezuelans who are in Secote would also have access to an attorney or be able to talk to a representative as well.

If El Salvador doesn't want to violate international civil rights agreements that they have been a party to. So that's noteworthy. Then first, we had Bukaki Bukele's tweet. I guess he wanted to get out ahead of Van Hollen. He sent a snarky tweet that was so snarky that there was like a moment where people were wondering if this was real or AI or whatever. But he wrote this. We'll put it on the screen here.

Kilmar Brego Garcia, miraculously risen from the death camps and torture, now sipping margaritas with Senator Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador. So a couple of observations there. If you just look at the picture, those don't look like margaritas to me. Obviously, we have some more important items here but it's pretty clear they're trying to kind of act like you know everything's okay and he's just kind of hanging out at the white lotus or whatever and so they put these little cherries on top of what appears to be who knows white rum margarita water dirty water i don't know but that's not a fucking margarita i'll tell you that bukele then continues

his trolling of all of us by retweeting a lot of conservative influencers who are replying to him including one significant one uh that i want to get to in a second uh but first i want to show you uh chris van holland's tweet more sincere tweet about this meeting. Van Hollen showed this. It's a more intimate picture of him with Obrega Garcia. He said that was his main goal of the trip was to meet with Kilmar. He had the chance to call his wife to pass along his message of love. It's very sweet. That's nice. And he looks forward to providing a full update upon his return. So hopefully we'll have more on that for you tomorrow. So that's good that Van Halen, Van Halen's tone was not dire, you know, there. Bukele's behavior, on the other hand,

leaves a lot to be concerned about. He sends a follow-up tweet that says, now that he's been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador's custody. We don't know for sure, I guess, but that seems to imply that he's going back to Sakote. Disgusting jail prison camp where, you know, they're just treated so horribly. Have so little access to basic human necessities. So there's that element of it from Bukele. Even more concerning was this. He's positioning this as a troll. Somebody replied to him tweeting, after thinking on it, my guess is this is a troll. So a sitting senator is photographed

with a member of MS-13 and he will be returned back back to Sakot. Bukele retweeted that, basically confirming that that is his point of view on this. So a lot more left to figure out. We will be anxiously waiting a response from Senator Van Hollen. In the meantime, for me, the main takeaway is this at least opens the door to action that would hopefully, potentially protect the rights of both Kilmar Abrego Garcia, but also the Venezuelans such as Andri. Andri is, for those who don't recall, is the gay stylist that was taken to Sukkot. So we've been talking about a lot on this channel. His lawyer sent a tweet, retweeted me earlier, basically, you know, saying that her main question now is where is Andri? And that is mine as well. If we can get Abrego Garcia out, why could we not get the other Venezuelans out so that they also have a chance to get due process, they would also presumably be protected under the international agreement

that El Salvador is a party to when it comes to the rights of those who are in prison to having access to counsel. So, you know, I'm hoping that this can be broadened out to that and that maybe Bukele thinks this is a troll, but once, you troll, but once the cat's out of the bag, this demonstrates that they can be pressured and we can try to recoup some rights to people that, if they're there no matter what, but if they're there wrongfully, have been traumatized beyond imagination by our country and by

this smart-ass bukkake wannabe cool guy dictator with adult braces in El Salvador. So that is that. There is your update for this evening. Proof of life of Kilmer Obrego Garcia and more to come from Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen. Good on him this evening, uh, proof of life of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and, more to come from Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen. Good on him for demonstrating that pressure does work. The pressure can't political pressure can lead to results.

Speaking up does matter. And so we appreciate you, Senator Van Hollen.