A video released by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele casts doubts on claims by Kilmar Abrego Garcia that he was beaten and tortured during his imprisonment in his country of origin.
In a video posted by the president on X, Abrego Garcia is seen in the video gardening, playing soccer, fishing and enjoying other leisurely activities while imprisoned in his home country.
The video appears at odds with Abrego Garcia’s legal filings earlier this week that he was severely beaten, deprived of sleep, and psychologically tortured while detained. He also claimed he lost more than 30 pounds.
Bukele wrote:
Apparently, anything a criminal claims is accepted as truth by the mainstream media and the crumbling Western judiciary. But the man wasn’t tortured, nor did he lose weight. In fact, photos show he gained weight while in detention… If he’d been tortured, sleep-deprived, and starved, why does he look so well in every picture? Why would he gain weight? Why are there no bruises, or even dark circles under his eyes?
A federal judge ruled earlier this year that Abrego Garcia was erroneously deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador. He was returned to the U.S. after a court order.
Abrego Garcia, who was living in Maryland as an illegal alien, was deported to El Salvador in March. Democrats and legacy media repeatedly portrayed him as a “Maryland man,” casting him as the poster boy of their resistance to the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans.
The controversy included a highly publicized trip by Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen to El Salvador to meet with the inmate.
The Trump administration accused Abrego Garcia of being an MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, and wife beater, citing police reports by his wife alleging domestic violence.
Fox News reported that Abrego Garcia was first held at the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center, “a notorious anti-terrorism prison,” in March and then transferred to a lower-security facility in Santa Ana in mid-April.
Bukele does not say in the X post which prison is featured in the video.
As Breitbart News reported, the U.S. Justice Department greeted Abrego Garcia’s return last month with a 10-page indictment, accusing him of being deeply involved in gang violence, weapons trafficking, and the abuse of women he had allegedly smuggled.
Abrego Garcia pled not guilty last month to all charges. He remains in federal custody in Nashville, Tennessee awaiting trial.
Ironically, his lawyers have argued he should remain in jail because the Trump administration is planning to deport him again if he is released.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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