Nuria Roca recalls the impact of the Alcàsser crime in 'Anatomía de... El fin de la Ruta': "It instilled fear in us"

Anatomía de... said goodbye this Sunday to its season on laSexta with an installment dedicated to the rise and fall of the Ruta del Bakalao. Mamen Mendizábal visited some of the most emblematic settings of that social and musical phenomenon of the early nineties, accompanied by testimonies such as those of Nuria Roca, Cristina Tárrega, Chimo Bayo and several of the promoters of that era.

During the program, Nuria Roca recalled how the murder of the three girls from Alcàsser forever changed the perception of those who frequented the Ruta. The presenter explained that she was the same age as Miriam, Toñi, and Desirée when they disappeared while trying to reach one of the discotheques in the area. "You could have been one of the girls from Alcàsser. You also hitchhiked, you also were in a parking lot. You could have crossed paths with 20 bastards... and it happened to these three friends who were all together," she reflected.

Roca assured that that crime marked a turning point for an entire generation. "The Alcàsser case instilled in us the fear we hadn't had until then. It marked a before and after. It generated fear. Especially for parents," she stated, recalling that, after the event, many families began to limit their children's night outings and changed the way youth leisure was experienced in the Valencian Community.

For her part, Cristina Tárrega nostalgically recalled her first years on the Ruta del Bakalao, assuring that discovering the Valencian discotheques transformed her way of understanding music and nightlife. "We were posh until we went to the Ruta. The day I entered Barraca, my silliness ended," joked the presenter, who defined that stage as a period of freedom and discovery. She also recalled that discovering the music of the Ruta was opening the door to "another world." "I want to go to London, I want to know all this, I want to see where the people who sing these songs live," she recalled about what she felt then. In addition, she revealed that she herself even DJed in some of the phenomenon's clubs, although she clarified that she always opted for "records with soul and feeling."

In contrast, Nuria Roca confessed that she never managed to keep up with those who partied all night long: "There were people who lasted all night. I don't know if they took drugs or not, I assume so. But lasting all night seemed super heavy to me, I didn't even find it fun," she concluded.