«We didn’t know about asbestos. I too now have breathing problems, but I don’t want to control myself, I don’t want to know”, these are the words of Everardo Bolletta, editor of the services of the former Rai journalist Franco Di Mare, who recently revealed that he has mesothelioma probably caused by asbestos to which he was exposed during missions in the Balkans for the Yugoslavian war, accusing Rai of having disappeared when reconstructing his movements with the sending of the service report. In an interview with Corriere della Sera Bolletta, now 75 years old, retraces the moments spent together with the journalist, including mortal dangers, fun and re-watchable meals. One thing is certain: “No one wanted to go to Sarajevo”, he says. «You will understand, the war indemnity was 100 thousand lire per day gross. “Come with me,” Franco told me. “We’ll have fun, you’ll meet a lot of people.”
The spaghetti per cent
So Bolletta, Di Mare and the rest of the crew left together with the correspondents of all the Rai news programs, “with two armored cars and a minibus with food”. «The caravan leader Sergio Spina, the director, had filled it with parmesan, pasta, tomatoes. Once we arrived at the Holiday Inn, where all the foreign journalists were staying, I cooked a mega-spaghetti per cent. You exaggerated with the chilli pepper, your English and German colleagues weren’t used to it.” From a culinary point of view, things went well until the supplies ran out: «We had to eat certain meat from who knows what beast. I gave a piece to a cat, he refused it himself. Better not to drink the water, it could have been contaminated, the local wine was still rubbish.”
«Franco and I became brothers»
But what remains imprinted most of all in Bolletta’s memory is the day in which he and Di Mare became “brothers”. «Franco, I and Luciano Masi, the operator, head towards the hospital to take pictures of the corpses, even though from Rome they tell us: “We can’t send these images at lunch time”. As we exit a tunnel, a passerby cuts us off. From afar a sniper shoots and cuts off his foot. Our driver nails it. Franco and I go down to pick up this unfortunate man. We load it into the car, careful not to stop.” «As long as you move – continues the Bolletta story – the sniper cannot aim well. Luciano takes him to the emergency room. The two of us, with the interpreter, a blonde girl, remain there, without protection. More shots whistle above our heads. We take shelter behind a large tree, crouching on the ground. I have the interpreter’s nails planted in his arm.”
“If we don’t escape they’ll kill us”
Bolletta remembers having said to Di Mare: “A Fra’, here if we don’t escape we’ll get killed.” He’s not afraid, he never was. We calculate the reloading time of the Kalashnikov, the speed of the bullet and the wind. We have about seven minutes between shots. We wait for the shot. And then we run zigzagging towards the car that came back to pick us up. With the fear of ending up in the sniper’s sights.” In the end the two manage to return to the hotel in one piece, but the first colleague they meet doesn’t seem too interested in their state of health: “Oh, who was that blonde who was with you?”. Bolletta also remembers Di Mare’s professionalism. During the night bombings, «in my pajamas, I smoked like crazy. No Franco, he was calm. He is the best of all. He never missed a service, he was always prepared.” And it was always Di Mare who gave valuable advice to the editor: “When you get into the car without your helmet and bulletproof vest, you put it on when you’re already on the road, it’s time to go home.”
