President Nayib Bukele has shredded claims from Kilmar Abrega Garcia that the violent MS-13 gang member was tortured during his short stay in El Salvador’s illegal alien prison.
On Thursday, the conservative leader released a blistering video compilation aimed at dismantling claims made by Abrego Garcia.
The so-called “Maryland Man” was deported under President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown but was later extradited back to the United States to face serious federal charges, including human trafficking.
Abrego Garcia alleged in legal filings that he was severely beaten, sleep-deprived, and psychologically tortured after being held at El Salvador’s notorious anti-terrorism prison, CECOT.
However, Bukele is firing back with footage that tells a very different story.
The video, shared publicly by Bukele, shows Abrego Garcia engaging in routine activities such as gardening, playing chess, fishing, and working out.
In the footage, the violent criminal looks healthy and relaxed.
He is even seen enjoying TV in a furnished prison cell.
However, what is notably absent are any signs of physical distress, bruises, or weight loss.
“If he’d been tortured, sleep-deprived, and starved, why does he look so well in every picture?” Bukele posted on X.
“Why would he gain weight?
“Why are there no bruises, or even dark circles under his eyes?”
WATCH:
Court documents had claimed Abrego Garcia lost 31 pounds in just two weeks at CECOT. Bukele flatly rejected that claim.
“The man wasn’t tortured, nor did he lose weight,” Bukele said.
“In fact, photos show he gained weight while in detention.
“There’s plenty of footage from different days, including his meeting with Senator Van Hollen, who himself confirmed the man seemed fine.”
Bukele then turned his sights on the media and liberal courts:
“Apparently, anything a criminal claims is accepted as truth by the mainstream media and the crumbling Western judiciary.”
Under Bukele, El Salvador has launched one of the world’s toughest crackdowns on gangs, arresting more than 1% of the population under a national state of emergency.
His hardline approach turned a nation once known for being the most dangerous in the world, with a homicide rate of 103 per 100,000 in 2015, into one of the safest in the Western Hemisphere, now sitting at 1.9 per 100,000.
For comparison, the U.S. homicide rate was nearly triple that in 2023 at 5.5 per 100,000.
Yet the Democrats and their allies in the corporate media continue to fixate on detainees like Abrego Garcia, an illegal alien gang member who had been living in Maryland before his March 2025 deportation.
He quickly became a progressive darling, lionized as a “victim” of Trump’s “mass deportation” plan.
But the Trump administration had labeled Abrego Garcia a dangerous individual, citing police reports and allegations linking him to MS-13 gang activity, human trafficking, and domestic abuse against his wife.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller explained that once Trump designated MS-13 a terrorist organization, individuals like Abrego Garcia became ineligible for immigration relief of any kind, prompting swift removal.
Despite claims of physical and psychological abuse, kneeling for hours, beatings, threats of gang violence, Bukele’s video evidence paints an entirely different picture.
In fact, the El Salvadoran government appears to be pushing back harder than the U.S. media ever has, calling out what they see as a politically motivated smear.
As Democrats scramble to elevate figures like Abrego Garcia to rally their base, Bukele and President Trump are reminding Americans that facts still matter, and so does national security.
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