A US senator described Friday how El Salvador staged a photo of him supposedly sipping margaritas with a wrongly deported constituent to cover up the man’s ordeal in a notorious prison.Chris Van Hollen denied that he drank cocktails with Kilmar Abrego Garcia while in El Salvador to meet the man, who was removed in what the White House has admitted was an “administrative error.”US President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele have refused to bring about the Maryland father’s release, despite a US federal judge’s order — backed by the Supreme Court — for his return.Van Hollen, a Democrat who represents Abrego Garcia’s home state, met the metal worker Thursday at the senator’s hotel in San Salvador.He told reporters on his return to Washington that Abrego Garcia had been moved to a better prison an hour’s drive away, but not before being scared for his safety in San Salvador’s CECOT, known for reports of rights abuses.Van Hollen said he realized he had been set up when Bukele posted photos on X of the meeting, alongside a caption stating that Abrego Garcia was “miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture,’ now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!”Later at the White House, Trump called Van Hollen a “fake” after he was asked about Bukele’s post.But the two-term senator said one of Bukele’s aides had planted cocktail glasses on the table to make it look like Abrego Garcia was being detained in the lap of luxury. “Nobody drank any margaritas or sugar water or whatever it is. But this is a lesson into the lengths that President Bukele will do to deceive people about what’s going on,” Van Hollen said.”And it also shows the lengths that the Trump administration and the president will go to, because when he was asked (by) a reporter about this, he just went along for the ride.”Van Hollen said Bukele’s officials had even pushed for the meeting to take place beside the hotel’s pool “to create this appearance that life was just lovely for Kilmar.”- ‘Total blackout’ -Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant, entered the United States illegally in 2011 but was given an indefinite reprieve from deportation in 2019.He was among scores of deportees the Trump administration has paid Bukele’s administration several million dollars to keep in detention.Trump has not revealed the terms of the deal, including any arrangements for the detainees’ care, how the contract is being monitored for compliance or when the prisoners will be released.The US government says Abrego Garcia is a member of the notorious MS-13 Salvadoran gang, although the evidence it has produced has been dismissed as inadequate by a federal court.He denies gang membership and has never been charged with crimes in either country.Van Hollen shared details of his half-hour meeting with Abrego Garcia, saying the detainee told him he had been in a cell with around 25 others. “He said he was not afraid of the other prisoners in his immediate cell, but that he was traumatized by being at CECOT, and fearful of many of the prisoners in other cell blocks who called out to him and taunted him in various ways,” the senator told reporters.Van Hollen added that even under his better conditions, Abrego Garcia was still under a “total blackout,” with no access to news from the outside world and no contact with family.The senator said Abrego Garcia grew emotional as he spoke repeatedly about his five-year-old son, who has autism and was in the car when Kilmar was pulled over by US government agents in Maryland and handcuffed.”His conversation with me was the first communication he had with anybody outside a prison since he was abducted. He said he felt very sad about being in a prison because he had not committed any crimes,” the Democrat went on. “When I asked him what was the one thing he would ask for, in addition to his freedom, he said he wanted to talk to his wife, Jennifer.”

Citing the US-China trade conflict, Ford said Friday it has “adjusted” its exports to the country, where the US auto giant operates manufacturing jointly with local partners.”We have adjusted exports from the US to China in light of the current tariffs,” Ford told AFP without specifying the models affected.The US auto giant halted Michigan-made shipments of the F-150 Raptor, Mustang and Bronco sport utility vehicles, according to a Wall Street Journal report Friday. Also affected was the Lincoln Navigator, which is built in Kentucky, the newspaper said.Over the last decade, Ford has sold around 240,000 vehicles in China exported from the United States. But volumes fell sharply in 2024 to around 5,500.The move is the latest ripple effect from an escalating trade war between Beijing and Washington.Despite pulling back on many other tariffs, President Donald Trump has stuck firm to US duties on Chinese goods and raised them to 145 percent. In turn, China has increased tariffs on US exports, including cars, to 125 percent.Overall, Ford sold 442,000 vehicles — made in the United States and elsewhere — in China in 2024, comprising 1.6 percent of the market, according to the carmaker’s latest annual report.The US company operates a number of manufacturing joint ventures in China with Chinese companies, producing vehicles under both the Ford and Lincoln brands.Some of Ford’s production in China is exported to other markets. One of these vehicles, the Lincoln Nautilus, is now subject to hefty US tariffs, according to the Wall Street Journal.Ford’s Chinese ventures resulted in 2024 operating profits of around $900 million, Ford Vice Chairman John Lawler said this week at a financial conference.

US President Donald Trump warned Thursday that Washington would “take a pass” on talks to end the Ukraine war within days unless there is rapid progress from Moscow and Kyiv.His comments came just hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio set the clock ticking, saying in Paris that the United States could “move on” from its role brokering the negotiations.Trump has been pressing both sides for a truce, but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin despite an ice-breaking call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and repeated negotiations with Moscow.”If for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say: ‘You’re foolish. You’re fools. You’re horrible people’ — and we’re going to just take a pass,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “But hopefully we won’t have to do that.”Republican Trump refused to cast blame on either Putin, who ordered the February 2022 full-scale invasion of pro-Western Ukraine, or Kyiv’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, insisting both sides had to make progress.But Trump warned that a decision on whether to abandon the talks could come “very shortly”. “No specific number of days, but quickly. We want to get it done,” he added.- ‘Move on’ -Moscow has kept up strikes on Ukraine, killing at least two people and wounding dozens more in attacks on the northeastern regions of Kharkiv and Sumy, Ukrainian officials said.One of the few commitments Trump had wrangled from Russia — a temporary moratorium on striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure — “expired” on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to an AFP question.After meeting European officials in Paris to discuss a ceasefire, Rubio said Washington needed to figure out soon whether a ceasefire was “doable in the short term.””Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” he told reporters.But speaking on a trip to Italy, US Vice President JD Vance still insisted he was “optimistic” about ending the three-year war.Trump promised to end the war within 24 hours of taking office but has little to show for his efforts so far.He has embarked on a rapprochement quest with the Kremlin that has alarmed Kyiv and driven a wedge between the United States and its European allies.He and Vance also had a blazing Oval Office row in February with Zelensky, whom he still accuses of bearing responsibility for Moscow’s invasion.Trump insisted that he was not being “played” by Moscow, which is accused by Ukraine of dragging its feet.”My whole life has been one big negotiation and I know when people are playing us and I know when they’re not,” the billionaire property tycoon added.Asked if Putin was stretching out the process, Trump added: “I hope not. I’m going to let you know about that soon if he is… he’s got a big force out there.” – ‘Mockery’ -Zelensky meanwhile slammed the latest attacks on his country, which came just days before Easter.Kyiv earlier announced it had received the bodies of 909 soldiers from Russia.”This is how Russia started Good Friday — with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, Shahed drones. A mockery of our people and cities,” Zelensky said on Telegram.Russia said it had hit “key drone production sites” and Ukrainian military airfields.Putin last month rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for a full and unconditional pause in the conflict, while the Kremlin has made a truce in the Black Sea conditional on the West lifting certain sanctions.Trump has also repeatedly expressed anger and frustration at Zelensky in a marked break from his predecessor, Joe Biden.Ukraine is set to sign a deal next week in Washington that would give the United States sweeping access to its mineral resources.European powers have meanwhile been seeking a seat at the table in the negotiations, particularly as Trump’s administration insists the continent should share the burden for Ukraine’s security. France hosted meetings between US and European officials in Paris on Thursday, saying the talks had launched a “positive process.”The meetings included French President Emmanuel Macron, Rubio and US envoy Steve Witkoff.Many allies have however been alarmed by Witkoff — who recently met Putin in Russia — repeating Moscow’s talking points about the war.burs-dk/tgb/

The United States will roughly halve the number of troops it has deployed in Syria to less than 1,000 in the coming months, the Pentagon said Friday.Washington has had troops in Syria for years as part of international efforts against the Islamic State (IS) group, which rose out of the chaos of the country’s civil war to seize swaths of territory there and in neighboring Iraq over a decade ago.The brutal jihadists have since suffered major defeats in both countries, but still remain a threat.”Today the secretary of defense directed the consolidation of US forces in Syria… to select locations,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement, without specifying the sites where this would take place.”This deliberate and conditions-based process will bring the US footprint in Syria down to less than 1,000 US forces in the coming months,” he said.”As this consolidation takes place…  US Central Command will remain poised to continue strikes against the remnants of (IS) in Syria,” Parnell added, referring to the military command responsible for the region.President Donald Trump has long been skeptical of Washington’s presence in Syria, ordering the withdrawal of troops during his first term but ultimately leaving American forces in the country.As Islamist-led rebels pressed forward with a lightning offensive last December that ultimately overthrew Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Trump said Washington should “NOT GET INVOLVED!””Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT,” Trump, then the president-elect, wrote on his Truth Social platform.- Years of war against IS -The 2014 onslaught by IS prompted a US-led air campaign in support of local ground forces — the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and  Iraqi government units.Washington also deployed thousands of American personnel to advise and assist local forces, with US troops in some cases directly fighting the jihadists.After years of bloody warfare, Iraq’s prime minister announced a final victory over IS in December 2017, while the SDF proclaimed the defeat of the group’s “caliphate” in March 2019 after seizing its final bastion in Syria.But the jihadists still have some fighters in the countryside of both countries, and US forces have long carried out periodic strikes and raids to help prevent the group’s resurgence.Washington stepped up military action against IS in Syria in the wake of Assad’s overthrow, though it has more recently shifted its focus to strikes targeting Yemen’s Huthi rebels, who have been attacking international shipping since late 2023.US forces in Iraq and Syria were repeatedly targeted by pro-Iran militants following the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, but responded with heavy strikes on Tehran-linked targets, and the attacks largely subsided.Washington for years said it had some 900 military personnel in Syria as part of international efforts against IS, but the Pentagon announced in December 2024 that the number of US troops in the country had doubled to around 2,000 earlier in the year.While the United States is reducing its forces in Syria, Iraq has also sought an end to the US-led coalition’s presence there, where Washington has said it has some 2,500 troops.The United States and Iraq have announced that the coalition would end its decade-long military mission in federal Iraq by the end of 2025, and by September 2026 in the autonomous Kurdistan region.