The , headed by , disappeared and tortured thousands of Venezuelans, both in its headquarters in Caracas and in a confinement camp on in the jungles of the Orinoco. After the 1958 Venezuelan coup d'état, when Pérez Jiménez abandoned the government and the country on 23 January 1958, more than 400 prisoners were found in the basement of the headquarters of the "Seguridad Nacional".