Picana

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Originally a type of cattle prod used by South American gauchos during the thirties, a variation of the picana became a notorious instrument of torture in Brazil, Chile and Argentina during the seventies.

A small electric probe the size of a pencil, it was applied to the naked bodies of prisoners who were tied to chairs or spread-eagled on the parrilla. With a ground wire attached to the prisoner's toe, the picana was touched to sensitive parts of the anatomy such as the nipples, breasts, vagina, penis, scrotum or anus. Sometimes the prisoner was also doused with cold water to intensify the effect of the shock.