Born in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Ustra was the head of the DOI-CODI, an investigation division of the Second Army from 1970 to 1974.

While head of DOI-CODI, 47 people officially died, although further investigation attributed 502 tortures to the division under his administration.

[1] In 2008, Ustra became the first military official to be recognized, by a civil court in São Paulo, as a torturer during the dictatorship.

[2] He died at the age of 83 on 15 October 2015 of pneumonia caused by multiple organ failure after several weeks in hospital in Brasília.

"[4] On 8 August 2019 Bolsonaro, by then president, called him a "national hero" who "prevented Brazil from falling into what the left-wing wants today".