During a visit to the White House this week, President Bukele refused to free Kilmar Abrego, calling him a terrorist and erroneously pointing out that bringing him back to the US would be illegal
The American senator Chris Van Hollen (Democrat) was received on Wednesday, April 16 by the vice president of El Salvador, Félix Ulloa, whom he requested the release of Salvadoran Kilmar Abrego García, arrested at the Center for Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT) after being deported from the United States despite having a status to bequeathed in the American country.
Van Hollen arrived in the Central American country with the intention of accessing the CECOT and seeing the state of Ábrego García, however this was not possible, as indicated at a press conference provided in San Salvador.
The senator explained to journalists that he asked Vice President Ulloa to carry out the necessary efforts to enter the megacárcel, but he “said that certain previous arrangements had to be made to be able to enter the CECOT” and that “I wasn’t within its possibilities to make that happen.”
According to Van Hollen, he also requested that he be authorized a phone call or a video call with El Salvadoran, but it was not possible, he said.
*Also read: relatives of deportees to El Salvador ask Maduro: What answers do we have?
The senator pointed out that “in the United States courts there is no evidence that says that Mr. Ábrego García was a member of the MS13” and said that “the Savior also does not have evidence that he has been a member.”
The American senator, who repeatedly assured that the Salvadoran is not a member of the MS13 and that he has not committed any crime in the North American countryHe added that he will ask the United States Embassy in El Salvador to “have communication with Abrego García” to know what his status is.
The Salvadoran Ábrego is one of the more than 200 migrants – mostly Venezuelans – who were expelled from the US on March 15 and sent to the high security prison without the possibility of appealing their cases before a court, which human rights defense groups have described as “forced disappearance.”
The government of President Donald Trump has defended the expulsions accusing migrants of having links with the transnational criminal organizations Train de Aragua and the Mara Salvatrucha gang (MS-13), recently qualified by Washington as terrorist groups.
However, multiple investigations from US media have shown that most migrants expelled to El Salvador have no criminal record.
Although the US Supreme issued last week a ruling that supports the order of a minor court in Maryland that instructs the government to “facilitate” the return of the Salvadoran, both US and El Salvador have denied having the power to do so.
During a visit to the White House this week, President Bukele refused to free Ábrego, calling him a terrorist and erroneously pointing out that bringing him back to the US would be illegal.
For its part, the Trump government has refused to give an information about the court, claiming that the agreement between San Salvador and Washington is “classified” and limited to informing that the 24 -year -old man is alive.
The Salvadoran, who was arrested by immigration authorities in a traffic checkpoint, had a legal status in the US that protected him from deportation and is married to an American citizen.
Ábrego García resided in the state of Maryland, after fleeing from El Salvador for the extortion and threats that he and his family received from the Barrio 18 gang, according to judicial documents presented by his defense.
With EFE information
*Journalism in Venezuela is exercised in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments arranged for the punishment of the word, especially the laws “against hatred”, “against fascism” and “against blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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