At the time, Nebot made the following statements to the police officers who were present:[3] Ustedes, policías, tienen órdenes precisas, claras; tenéis el respaldo moral, legal y económico del Gobierno (...) Usad las armas porque están facultados para ello.

[note 1]According to Xavier Flores, a lawyer and specialist in human rights, the administration of Febres-Cordero attempted from the beginning to take up the banner of the fight against “crime and terrorism” in order to stir a generalized feeling of lack of security and danger.

In fact, the report by the Truth Commission revealed that only 19% of those who were tortured and murdered had ties to Alfaro Vive, while the rest were members of civil society.

[3] As part of this new line of action, the mobile squads used to patrol the streets of various cities at night and arrest anyone who looked suspicious or who they determined was undesirable.

[6] It was a sort of social cleansing campaign,[3] and those targeted included female sex workers, members of the LGBT community, or any man with features they deemed "effeminate."

Activist Gonzalo Abarca [es], who helped arrange the release of several female detainees, reported years later that trans women in particular were beaten, raped, and tortured.

[6] As part of a report submitted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Mabell García [es], a trans woman who is a survivor of torture, described that they used to be taken to the Cuartel Modelo and forced to "perform abhorrent acts" just because they were wearing women’s clothing.

Muchas chicas trans aparecían muertas en la Perimetral con cortes, mutilaciones y nadie podía reclamar nada.

[3][11][12] Other types of torture described in the report by the Truth Commission included: depriving the detainees of food, preventing them from sleeping, beating them constantly with blunt objects, applying electric shocks when they did not react, suffocating them with wet rags, and simulating that they were going to be killed.