“I want to make a premise: the Carabinieri weapon has nothing to do here, I spoke as a free citizen. I expressed my thoughts, also because Article 21 of the Italian Constitution allows me to do so. Free thought. Without offending anyone. Here someone, in my opinion, read and wanted to distort the meaning of what I wrote, making me pass for a coup and a subversive. I have not invited people to go against the institutions, I have only expressed criticisms that are the result, I repeat, of my considerations.
Evidently, those who have written things against me don't even know who I am, they don't even distinguish my rank since they are wrong, they don't know my story, they don't know anything.
So, before talking about the Alpha commander, they have to rinse their mouths. First they inquire, then they can make judgments. I have sworn an oath to the Italian Republic. I have made many sacrifices and have always been honest and loyal to institutions. I have been a humble servant of the state for 47 years with governments of any color because I am apolitical. And I'm a patriot and I've always kept my promise and my oath. So, I don't allow anyone to pass me off as a coup or subversive. People have to get informed before speaking ".
There is no need, the Alfa commander, to pass himself off as a man who endangers democracy. He who, if he has a boast, is to have always been at the service of institutions, of legality. There is no need to be misinterpreted for the letter / outburst that for two days has been making people talk, discuss, shout at the conspiracy. He is angry about this. He is also offended, precisely because, he says, his story as a man and a carabiniere tells the opposite, in black and white.
Commander Alfa, for those who do not know him, is one of the founders of the GIS (Special Intervention Group) of the Carabinieri. He is a man who when he worked in secret did it for the state and not against the state. And if he wears the mephisto that covers his face it is only for a matter of safety, for him and his family: who knows how the mafia works, knows that it does not forgive. Several decades of field service, many awards for anti-crime actions including one Golden Cross of Merit of the Carabinieri Corps. Many experiences in Italy and missions abroad including Nassiriya, where in the attack on the Mistral base he lost, among many friends, also a co-founder of the GIS, Enzo Fregosi.
A few days ago, as a free citizen now retired, he wrote a letter on the management of the Cov19 pandemic and expressed criticism. A real uproar was unleashed and we heard about the coup and subversive. If they had hit him with a shotgun in the heart, they would have hurt him less.
We interviewed him, to have him explain why he wrote that letter and what his real thought is.
Why did the Alpha commander feel the need to write such a letter?
Look, I've been a soldier for many years. And when a politician or general came to visit the Department, their presence and the words they addressed gave us an incredible charge.
I have immense admiration for the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, because he picked up the phone, gave courage to the governors and mayors of the regions most affected by Covid 19 and put his face on it, even when he asked the European Union to help us out. This is a true leader, this is a President of the Republic, a man to be admired.
My letter was, simply, an invitation to politicians, instead of staying at home, to give a more tangible signal of presence, obviously with adequate protection for the virus as it should be. There are people who are working.
You see, if Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini, I repeat, to the maximum of anti-virus security, instead of giving me subversive he had gone to give a word of comfort to the carabinieri, to the soldiers, but also to the policemen, to those who preside over the territory and are checkpoints - people in uniform doing grueling shifts - would have given an incredible incentive to their work. And this the head of government could do it too, choosing a hospital and going to give the same word of comfort to doctors and nurses.
This was what I meant to say, nothing else. Because this is what it means to be a leader and make the state feel close.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte reiterated several times that the state is there.
It's true, in the press conference as the prime minister said on television, the state is there. Yes, it is, but to be even stronger and more present, to give an even stronger signal, it was enough that he went, for 5 minutes, to find those who work in an emergency. But far from me, who is an advocate of legality, to think that there were other reasons.
Even today, I go to schools in Italy to talk about respect for institutions, freedom of movement, alcohol, drugs, legality. How dare they give me subversive? !!! I'm not.
So, to those who have done it naively or perhaps without thinking, I just invite them to inquire. But whoever did it maliciously, to create confusion, this is not okay. Again, I have worked for the state for 47 years. I made so many sacrifices, so many sacrifices. I enlisted at 17, I discharged from the Army at 65, read my story! No one has ever given me anything, I have earned everything, with sweat and sacrifices, mine and my family.
I do not allow anyone to point me out as a "coup" or as a "subversive". And whoever made a mistake pays. In life it is like this, everyone must take on their responsibilities. And no one comes to tell me I'm backing down, because it's not like that.
Above all, I do not represent the Carabinieri weapon or the institutions. I represent myself and take responsibility for them.
A thought, therefore, as a free citizen according to art. 21 of the Constitution?
Exactly. I exercise the right of free thought, because the Constitution allows me to express it freely. And it seems to me that I have not offended anyone. Unless someone can read or understand what he is reading. I respect everyone's opinions, but I repeat, I'm not going to go for a coup and subversive.
They went to read my story, what I have done in 47 years of career. My decorations, they didn't give them to me, they earned them, with sacrifices and sacrifices, in Italy and abroad. I have always carried on, with honor and respect, being Italian. And whoever wrote the opposite should be ashamed.
That's why I'm angry. And, I repeat, I am not backing down, I take responsibility, all of them, on what I have written. And, I repeat for the umpteenth time, the Carabinieri weapon has nothing to do with it. I am always tied to the weapon, because carabinieri remain forever, but I no longer have to stick to regulations.
It is obvious that if I were on duty I would not have done it. But now I am a free citizen who expresses an opinion. And it wasn't just me. Maybe I have said it differently than others, many others including journalists have criticized the same things. But I didn't make a criticism, mine was more a cry of pain.
I speak of war, but it is obvious that it was a metaphor, it is a war against an invisible enemy, as the doctors themselves define it, the same nurses say that we are in the trenches. I'm not the one who wants to make war.
These people, who attribute to me phrases never said, how dare they? We are fighting an enemy we don't know, but science will take care of fighting and winning the battle.
What has been misinterpreted?
I, in my letter, basically invited the political forces to unity, not to get lost in the opposite sides, I invited them to team up. It was constructive criticism and, as such, should be well accepted. It is the destructive one that must be fought. Constructive criticism is much more difficult.
I just said that when we learned about this virus around a month ago, we had to close the borders immediately, we wasted time. But it doesn't mean I want to go to war or that I want a curfew. We are not in a dictatorial state, we are in democracy.
I do not understand why, the same things also said by others, said by me they created a mess and I was given the subversive and the coup. Affirmed by others have gone unnoticed. What is the difference? I did not get it.
I am no longer a soldier, I have not incited people to take to the streets against the institutions. I will never, because I am a staunch servant of the state even today.
He gave a lawyer a mandate ...
The lawyer is there to protect me. Gentlemen, I was part of the story. I do not allow anyone to call me a coup or subversive. To anyone, whoever it is: ruler and non-ruler.
Go read my resume. And only after - eventually - they speak.
Photo: web / presidency of the council of ministers / Facebook
