Watch: Marco Rubio Introduces Himself to Nayib Bukele’s Children on El Salvador Trip

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio received a warm welcome on Monday from President Nayib Bukele and his family at the presidential palace in San Salvador, El Salvador.

Bukele received Rubio in the company of the First Lady of El Salvador Gabriela Rodríguez de Bukele and their two daughters, 5-year-old Layla and one-year-old Aminah Bukele. The exchange occurred entirely in Spanish, an unprecedented moment for American diplomacy as Rubio is the nation’s first Hispanic-American secretary of state.

“And who are they?” Rubio asked, referring to the first daughters. Layla Bukele introduced herself, to which Rubio responded, “Layla, pleasure to meet you. [I’m] Marco,” and proceeded to greet the Salvadoran First Lady Gabriela Rodríguez and Aminah Bukele.

Secretary Rubio, a father of four, shared some quick parental advice with the Salvadoran presidential couple.

“Two girls – wait until they are 15, you’ll see how it is,” he joked. “The first two [of mine] were girls and then the two boys,” Sec. Rubio said. “Totally different, two completely different experiences. But imagine one day you’re going to go like that – you’re going to open your eyes and they are 17 years old.”

Rubio visited El Salvador as part of a broader tour across five Central American nations that, prior to El Salvador, included a stop in Panama. The week-long agenda, Rubio’s first overseas trip since his confirmation as Secretary of State, will continue through Saturday with visits to Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic.

Rubio’s Central American tour aims to promote President Donald Trump’s America First foreign policy, with Rubio holding encounters with heads of state and other officials in the areas of regional cooperation, shared interests, migration, fighting transnational criminal organizations and drug traffickers, and countering China’s influence in the region.

Shortly after the Salvadoran presidential family’s reception at the presidential palace, President Bukele gave Rubio a tour of Lake Coatepeque, explaining to him that the lake formed from a “crater that exploded, I don’t know, 10,000 years ago or something like that and filled with water” prior to holding an official private meeting with the United States’ top diplomat.

President Bukele wrapped up the Rubio visit to Lake Coatepeque by posting a scenic photo on social media that he titled “Friends.”

As part of Rubio’s visit to El Salvador, President Bukele offered the United States the “opportunity” to transfer convicted criminals into the country’s CECOT “mega-prison” in exchange for a fee. Rubio and Salvadoran Foreign Minister Alexandra Hill Tinoco also signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the field of nuclear energy. 

Secretary Rubio is scheduled to arrive in San José, Costa Rica, on Tuesday morning to meet with President Rodrigo Chaves and other members of the Costa Rican government.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.