( Fresh Air ), fun , difference , friends and an adventure to tell about vacations . It came to have an audience — per official sources — of twenty thousand people . 20,000 !!! Do you think it ’ s a low audience ? It frightened us , it excited us , it made us believe that it was possible to be happy in Cuba . Taking advantages of a tropical island located in the privileged Caribbean area , Rotilla was born on the small beach that gave it its name , to the east of the capital . Then it moved to Playa Jibacoa and there took place the event , for three long ( for the organizers ) days and nights during an August weekend . We came two days earlier to set up the stages , which would total six , each of them with peculiar features . We had to clean the beach , fumigate , clear the mouth of the river and organize the logistic details , which were increasing at high speed every year . After the festival , we stayed until leaving the area well-ordered and neat , and returned later to be sure that the cleaning companies had sanitized the beach with their machines . The collaboration of friends and volunteers from community groups ( now disintegrated ), the work of a small but efficient security team , the willingness of the artists we were summoning to perform for free , as well as a loyal group of followers allowed us to build one of the most striking events among the young people . They came from all the provinces . We tried to summon the youngest DJ ' s and to reserve a space for everyone at any time . The festival acquired an international connotation with artists from Venezuela , England and Brazil . We added other musical genres and hip hop looked great . On the stages at Rotilla , multitudinous and unique concerts were held ; others got lost along the way . The agreements with artists were always for free . We only guaranteed food , transportation and stay in a VIP room enabled for their comfort . Our status as independent sponsors did not give the opportunity to pay them for their presentations , but it was gratifying to make them feel themselves in their space , to offer the same to everyone , to give them something different and to know it ’ s was worth . The growth of Rotilla began to be remarkable in 2008 , but the crucial year was 2009 . We convened a press conference , in our own name , with neither official institutions nor official representatives . We were the first independent project that dared to do that , although we had no notion about what we were doing . We told both the national and international press — printed and digital — and the artists and organizers , and everyone , everyone involved : “ Listen to our proposal , participate , come !". It ’ s impossible to forget the moment we understood that the line of young people who came to settle on the beach was endless . There were our looks , our complicity , our strength . We slept only two hours during more than 72 hours of hard work . Our adrenaline and Red Bull kept us awake . Our responsibility was not only that the artists punctually arrived on stage . There was a lot of people making claims , people who will drink and stay in the same space for more than 24 hours in virtue of our idea . Rotilla was lucky . The violence rates were negligible . The most complicated issues regarding the public was the ingestion of alcoholic beverages and the lack of food combined with an excess of party . The stores and business — whether state or private — at and around the adjacent city Santa Cruz del Norte ran completely out of supplies . In three days , they outnumbered by far the sales during the rest of the year . But nothing that could be so good was well received . In 2011 , when we arrived at the badluck-number edition 13 , the festival was stolen . 2 We naively believed that there would be
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