Introduction

To strengthen the province's tourism offering, the Tucumán Tourism Board is coordinating actions with the Human Rights Secretariat to design a historical circuit that encourages the identification and visitation of sites and spaces where crimes against humanity were committed or planned, both during Operation Independence and the last civil-military dictatorship (1975-1983) and at other times in our history.

These actions, which involved incorporating signage and digital support to provide relevant information, are part of the public policies of Memory, Truth, and Justice, which symbolize the democratic State's commitment to publicize and condemn crimes against humanity, promote the prosecution of those responsible, and recognize victims, survivors, and their families.

These interventions in public space bring together support and reparation for victims of illegal repression and the promotion of community participation in the construction of memory so that such harmful events do not happen again.

Police Headquarters

The Tucumán Police Department concentrated its repressive activity in the so-called “fight against subversion” in two overlapping organic structures: the Intelligence Department (D2) and the Confidential Information Service (SIC), which were dependent on the Police Headquarters. These structures fulfilled their role in the repressive scheme by using two associated Clandestine Detention Centers: the Police Headquarters itself and the Investigations Brigade.

The Police Headquarters CCD was located in the central building of the Police, between Santa Fe and Junín streets and Salta and Sarmiento avenues, in the heart of San Miguel de Tucumán. The Brigade, meanwhile, was located at the intersection of Sarmiento and Muñecas avenues. These two sites began operating in early 1975 and remained in operation until late 1979.

The CCD Headquarters was divided into two main areas: the interrogation area and the cell area, and between the two there was an open-air parking area. The interrogation area consisted of a room where the detainees who would later be interrogated or who could be released were kept. This room was connected to three offices, two used as torture rooms and another that corresponded to the Chief's office. There was a fourth space that functioned as a weapons and ammunition storage room and another where administrative tasks were carried out. There the folders and bookcases were kept, the information was selected, information about the operations and the papers that documented the tasks of the intelligence community were kept, etc.

The cell area was divided into two sectors. The first consisted of a large room with two subdivisions and a bathroom. It housed detainees who had special treatment, each with a bed and mattress. The second was the dungeon with 15 individual cells and one collective cell. Women were housed in the individual cells and men and women in the collective cells.

Both structures depended on the command line of the Tucuman police, but from January 1975 they were intervened by military authorities. On the one hand, by the intervention of the Police Headquarters since 1974; and on the other hand, by the creation of the position of “Military Supervisor of D2” who controlled and coordinated police efforts in matters of “anti-subversive” intelligence. The control of the FFAA left, however, a good deal of autonomy for the development of its operations, which produced power disputes between the police and military structures.

The SIC/D2 had 60 officers, non-commissioned officers and police agents in charge of intelligence tasks and clandestine repression. It investigated and identified people and established the “targets” that had to be stopped. The members of the SIC were those who conducted the kidnapping operations through task groups, often with the support of army infantry that, paradoxically, carried out security tasks. These groups were in charge of interrogating detainees and carrying out new kidnappings as a result of the extraction of information.

The members of the SIC/D2 were divided into three groups: (a) the “guard” group in charge of the control and custody of those held captive in this CCD; (b) the members of “the gang” or “operatives” who carried out the kidnappings and interrogated the detainees or transferred them; and (c) the “administrative” groups who carried out documentation and service tasks.

The clandestine detainees were brought into the CCD Headquarters through a gate located on Santa Fe Street. They were all tied up and blindfolded and were sometimes given an identification number.

They were all taken to interrogation sessions under torture. At first, they were left in the cell area and then they were transferred in turn to the interrogation area. In some cases, they were forced to stand for long periods, facing a wall, until they were allowed to change position or fainted from exhaustion. Physical torture consisted of beatings, electric prods, blows to both ears, nail lifting and breaking of finger bones. Psychological torture, meanwhile, consisted of threats against themselves and their families, mock executions or being made to listen to the torture of other people known or unknown.

The conditions of detention were inhumane. In general, they were only allowed to go to the bathroom once or twice a day, they could not clean themselves and they were fed leftovers irregularly. They also had no access to medical care and, in many cases, were left to their own devices with mortal injuries and ailments.

In addition to its Intelligence section, the Tucumán Police put its extensive territorial infrastructure at the service of clandestine repression. At that time, the Police Department had around 80 police stations spread throughout the province, which contributed all their personnel and knowledge of the terrain to carry out illegal searches and arrests in the territories over which they had jurisdiction.