On February 5, 1975, the National Executive Branch, under the constitutional administration of María Estela Martínez de Perón, signed secret Executive Order 261/75 by which the General Command of the Army was instructed to "conduct any military operation deemed necessary to neutralize and/or annihilate the actions of subversive elements operating in the province of Tucumán." On February 8, the military and security forces were deployed in the province. There, they launched Operation Independence. It entailed the systematic elimination of political opponents through abductions, imprisonment in clandestine detention centers, murders, and disappearances. Operation Independence established an apparatus of social control in the rural areas of the province with a view to sowing terror. The methodology in place in the clandestine detention centers began to operate in this province at Famaillá School.

The trial involved 270 victims and ended in 2016 with ten individuals convicted, including military and police officers, for crimes the court considered crimes against humanity. "A specific examination of the repressive system implemented in Tucumán reveals that the systematic and widespread plan of repression against the civilian population began and was fully implemented in early 1975," the court held in its conclusions.