FUSNA is the name that was given to the detention centre that operated in the headquarters of the Uruguayan Navy Fusilier Corps (Fusileros Navales). It had a dual function: firstly, it acted as a clandestine torture and detention centre and secondly, it served as a prison for people who were tried by the military justice system after having been captured and illegally detained.

The FUSNA clandestine detention centre was operated by the military organism which bore the same name. The Navy Fusilier Corps (FUSNA) were established by decree in March 1972 and they were accountable to the General Command of the Uruguayan Navy. From then onwards, the FUSNA acted as the operational unit of the Uruguayan Navy that participated in the so-called “fight against subversion”, which involved the persecution of political militants, trade unionists and any other opponents to the dictatorship.

FUSNA’s operations took place in three large warehouses in the far south east of the Port of Montevideo. These red-bricked buildings are distinctive to the port; although it can be seen that they have undergone some slight modifications on the outside.

Inside the warehouse, there was a middle floor which housed the facilities for torturing and interrogating both the male and female detainees. The individuals who had already been tried by the military justice system, but were being sanctioned or kept in solitary confinement for whatever reason, were taken to this middle floor. Some were kept in individual cells whereas others were attached to hooks on the walls. The ground floor housed a block cell, that is to say a cell that barely measured two metres long which was occupied by one or two inmates held as “legalised prisoners”. Block cells were lit up throughout the day and night with artificial lighting. The cells were closed with a metal door with a peephole. The detainees had to cover themselves with a hood on the occasion that they left their cells, they were being transferred or whenever an officer turned up. The cells backed onto a large open space within the warehouse that was called the “courtyard”. All of the facilities were guarded by armed navy fusiliers.

The warehouses were poorly insulated since they had initially served as places where the customs would store merchandise. The walls and internal divisions were thin, meaning that the cries of the people being tortured could constantly be heard by the other individuals who had been secretly captured and detained.

The FUSNA played an important role in the repressive coordination that occurred under the framework of Operation Condor. It was responsible for operations carried out in Argentina against the Communist Revolutionary Party (Partido Comunista Revolucionario, PCR) and the Socialist Militant Groups (Agrupaciones de Militantes Sociales, AMS), which were connected to the Unifying Action Groups (Grupos de Acción Unificadora, GAU) through the Artiguist Liberation Union (Unión Artiguista de Liberación, UAL). The FUSNA also led the capture of a group of Montoneros militants, before handing them over to Argentina’s Escuela de Mecánica de la Armada (Navy Mechanics School, ESMA). The relationship and collaboration between the repressors from the Uruguayan FUSNA and the Argentine ESMA remained constant throughout both countries’ dictatorships.

There are several emblematic cases involving the participation of the FUSNA in Operation Condor’s activities. The participation of repressors from the FUSNA in the kidnapping and disappearance of Elena Quinteros- a teacher and militant of the Partido por la Victoria del Pueblo (Party for the Victory of the People, PVP)- in June 1976 remains under investigation. Another emblematic case involving the FUSNA’s participation in Operation Condor is that of the capture of the Italian citizen, Rafaela Giuliana Filipazzi and the Argentine citizen, José Agustín Potenza. Both Rafaela and José were arrested in a hotel in Montevideo (Uruguay), prior to being handed over to the police forces of the Paraguayan dictatorship in June 1977.

In November 1977, the Argentine citizen and member of the Montoneros guerrilla group, Óscar Gregorio Marconi was arrested at the Port of Colonia as he attempted to enter Uruguay with his partner. Óscar was taken to the FUSNA in Montevideo, where he was interrogated. He was injured while attempting to escape after having pretended to have a meeting with other militants in the Ciudad Vieja neighbourhood of Montevideo. He was later handed over to the Argentine repressors. On 17th December, a helicopter belonging to the Argentine Navy landed in the Naval Base of Montevideo Port. Óscar was secretly transferred to the ESMA, where he disappeared. These events were investigated and appear in the sentence of the ESMA IV Trial of April 2021.

According to the testimony of Daniel Rey Piuma, a former member of the Uruguayan Navy who deserted the force to report the torture that was occurring, the repressive functions connected the FUSNA to the operation at the Port of Montevideo taking place under the División de Inteligencia de Prefectura (Intelligence Prefecture Division, DIPRE).

The repressors involved included Jorge Tróccoli who- after fleeing Uruguay to avoid prosecution- was sentenced to life imprisonment for 26 homicides in the Operation Condor trial that was concluded in Rome in July 2021.

The Human Rights Secretariat for the Recent Past (Secretaría de Derechos Humanos para el Pasado Reciente)- which answered to the Working Group for Truth and Justice (Grupo de Trabajo por Verdad y Justicia) created by presidential decree in 2015- accessed the FUSNA’s archive and began work to “survey and identify this set of archives”.

On 18th December 2015, a commemorative plaque was placed at the entrance of the Port of Montevideo.

The FUSNA currently operates in another location. It carries out duties as a naval guard in its Punta Lobos base in the Cerro de Montevideo neighbourhood.