Yesterday as he left the voting booth, Francesco Fortugno was shot dead by two assassins. The brazen symbolic murder was a death threat to all politicians associated with
L'Unione, the Lefist coalition expected to take power from Berlusconi in April 2006.
The body Francesco Fortugno will lie in state all day tomorrow in the chambers of the Regional Council of Calabria where he served as Deputy Chairman.
The brazen murder was made to look like a mafia hit, but it's a good bet that it was carried out by fascist assassination squad. Such ugly specters of the past have come back to life, thanks to the indulgence and coddling of the ultra-right by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
In addition to his service to the public, Francesco Fortugno was a physician, forensic scientist, professor of medicine at the Università di Catanzaro and Secretary of the Academy of Medicine of Reggio Calabria.
The fact that fascists dare to act so boldly in broad daylight with no fear whatsoever of the law in a Western country and NATO ally is a warning of a bloody season ahead in Italy. This is a deliberate provocation of the Left, which has the sense to play it cool.
In the meantime, though far away, let's remember and pray for one of our own.