A reportage from CNN on the Pugliaentitled “The violence of mafia (or mafia-type) is on the rise in the same Italian region where the leaders of the G7 will meet,” infuriated the Meloni governmentleading to a harsh response from the minister Crosetto.
CNN’s reportage on the G7 and the mafia in Puglia
“Mafia-style violence is on the rise in the same Italian region where G7 leaders are set to meet”: this is the title that CNN gave to a report on the next G7scheduled from 13 to 15 June 2024 in Italy, in the municipality of Fasano, in the province of Brindisi, precisely in Puglia.
The report by the well-known American television station talks about the Sacra Corona Unita, the weight that the affiliated groups have in cities such as Bari and Brindisi, of the increase in violence and murders “high profile for inter-clan revenge, as well as numerous mutilations” and alleged “almost daily bomb threats”.
The post by the Minister of Defense of the Meloni Government, Guido Crosetto, in response to the CNN report on Puglia, the G7 and the mafia
A reportage that launches a harsh attack on Puglia and Italy, giving the image of a region dominated by constantly growing mafia gangs. And, as undeniable as Italy’s problem with organized crime is, CNN’s work has infuriated the Meloni government.
The anger of the Meloni Government
Starting from the assumption that, in certain cases, patriotism is to say the least out of place, because it tends to assimilate the Italian who reports the news to someone who “speaks badly about Italy”, it is however true that the reportage signed by Barbie Latza Nadeau contains however a series of inaccuracies or unclear information both for the context and for the sources used.
Minister Guido Crosetto responded to the report on the G7 in Puglia, acting on behalf of the Government, and stated in a long post published on social media that “we should take the matter to an American judge and hold CNN to account for this international defamation”.
“I do not underestimate at all the presence of clans of the Sacra Corona Unita and others that the police, carabinieri, finance and judiciary fight and oppose every day, without fanfare – continues Crosetto – But it would be enough to read the statistics to see that the episodes of violence in Puglia, in a year, they are well below monthly rates in a major US city whose name I spare so as not to lower myself to their level.”
President Michele Emiliano’s response
The president of the Puglia Region, Michele Emiliano, also spoke on the topic: “At this moment I don’t want to disturb CNN, but a series of inaccurate things have been written, so I’m sure they’ll ask the president next time who all in all is still a magistrate, and he is an anti-mafia magistrate.”
“If there is a region that at a certain point invented first the mayor of Bari and then the president of the region among the magistrates of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate, there will be a meaning”, Emiliano then continued, as reported by BrindisiReport.
Instead, the Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, tried to tone down the tone, for whom it is just “an old refrain, a cliché which unfortunately demonstrates that many journalists do not know the reality of Pugliatherefore, before speaking they would do well to inform themselves.”
Photo source: ANSA
