who were detained there. “Orletti” depended operationally on the Secretariat for State Intelligence (“SIDE”) and had a vertical structure with “a ‘Boss’ [‘Jefe’] of the Argentine personnel in the person of Aníbal Gordon.”21 42. It was corroborated that the “Argentine Anticommunist Alliance” (“Alianza Anticomunista Argentina”), also known as the “Triple A,” was present at “Orletti.” That organization was established prior to the coup d’état, in 1974, by José López Rega, then the Minister of Social Wellbeing in the government of President María Estela Martínez de Perón. The “Triple A” was “the expression of terror established in those years and the years to come in the context of kidnappings, assassinations, attacks on political dissidents; having had armed personnel from different walks of life, including police agents, military agents, and non-public servants officers and staff of the intelligence services.”22 The membership of Aníbal Gordon in that organization was a matter of public knowledge.23 43. In addition to the Argentine personnel under the SIDE, also active at “Orletti” were agents of Uruguayan nationality who belonged to the Defense Information Services (SID: Servicio de Información de Defensa), under the Ministry of Defense of Uruguay or under the Coordinating Body for Antisubversive Operations (OCOA: Organismo Coordinador de Operaciones Antisubversivas). The joint action of Argentine and Uruguayan personnel at this center has been invoked repeatedly by the surviving witnesses. According to the testimony of several witnesses, Lt. Col. José Nino Gavazzo, a member of the SID and the OCOA, Col. Manuel Cordero, and Commissioner Campos Hermida were seen at “Orletti.” One of the particularities of “Orletti” was also the number of foreign persons detained, especially Uruguayans.24 Most of them were active in Uruguayan politics, in particular the PVP. This party was formed in Argentina in July 1975 by Uruguayan activists from the Federación Anarquista Uruguaya (FAU), which subsequently formed the organizations Resistencia Obrero Estudiantil (ROE) and Organización Popular Revolucionaria 33 Orientales (OPR 33). Therefore, “Orletti” operated as a principal base of the SIDE and Uruguayan intelligence agents operating in Argentina in the context of the massive coordination of “Operation Condor.”25 44. Regarding the conditions of detention at “Orletti” the Argentine courts have established that “victims were generally subjected to various situations of captivity or subhuman living conditions.” The accounts of several victims have coincided in noting the routine of torture that each person detained had to undergo. By turns, and almost always at night, they were taken to the upper part of the center to be interrogated. There they were handcuffed with their hands behind them, hung from a “hook” until their feet were 20 cm to 30 cm from the floor, and a sort of belt was placed on their waists that produced an electric shock throughout the body. Water and coarse salt were placed on the floor, and when the victim could resist no more their feet would reach the floor and the electricity was conducted upwards. Meanwhile, buckets of cold water were thrown on them so that the sensation of the electric shock would become intensified in the extreme.26 Most of the Uruguayans detained at “Orletti” were transferred to Uruguay. The first transfer occurred in June 1976 in a military aircraft, and involved 26 persons. A second flight took 22 persons; other transfers followed in smaller groups.27 Annex XX. “Vaello, Orestes et al. re/aggravated illegal deprivation of liberty and aggravated homicide,” National Court for Federal Criminal and Correctional Matters No. 3, Secretariat No. 6, pp. 3 and 23-25. Annex to the petitioner’s brief of August 3, 2012. 22 Annex XX. “Vaello, Orestes et al. re/aggravated illegal deprivation of liberty and aggravated homicide,” National Court for Federal Criminal and Correctional Matters No. 3, Secretariat No. 6, pp. 32 and 33. Annex to the petitioner’s brief of August 3, 2012. 23 Annex XX. “Vaello, Orestes et al. re/aggravated illegal deprivation of liberty and aggravated homicide,” National Court for Federal Criminal and Correctional Matters No. 3, Secretariat No. 6, p. 33. Annex to the petitioner’s brief of August 3, 2012. 24 Annex XX. “Vaello, Orestes et al. re/aggravated illegal deprivation of liberty and aggravated homicide,” National Court for Federal Criminal and Correctional Matters No. 3, Secretariat No. 6, pp. 32-38. Annex to the petitioner’s brief of August 3, 2012. 25 Annex XX. “Vaello, Orestes et al. re/aggravated illegal deprivation of liberty and aggravated homicide,” National Court for Federal Criminal and Correctional Matters No. 3, Secretariat No. 6, pp. 34-39. Annex to the petitioner’s brief of August 3, 2012. 26 Annex XX. “Vaello, Orestes et al. re/aggravated illegal deprivation of liberty and aggravated homicide,” National Court for Federal Criminal and Correctional Matters No. 3, Secretariat No. 6, p. 38. Annex to the petitioner’s brief of August 3, 2012. 27 I/A Court HR. Case of Gelman v. Uruguay. Merits and Reparations. Judgment of February 24, 2011. Series C No. 221, para. 57; Annex XX. “Vaello, Orestes et al. re/aggravated illegal deprivation of liberty and aggravated homicide,” National Court for Federal Criminal and Correctional Matters No. 3, Secretariat No. 6, pp. 43-45. Annex to the petitioner’s brief of August 3, 2012; and Annex XX. Judgment handed down May 31, 2011 in Case No. 1627 captioned “Guillamondegui, Néstor Horacio et al. re/aggravated illegal deprivation of liberty, imposition of torments, and aggravated homicide,” Oral Tribunal for Federal Criminal Matters No. 1, p. 570. Annex to the petitioner’s brief of August 3, 2012. 21