LA REPUBBLICA (Italy)
ROME – After a lull, Italy has registered a new spate of economic-related suicides following a wave of such deaths last month.
Three Italian men killed themselves Tuesday because they could no longer bear their economic situation, La Repubblica reports. In the southern city of Salerno, Generoso Armenante, a 49-year-old who lost his job two years ago, hanged himself after he was told to give back the flat that came with the job. He is survived by his wife, who is unemployed, and their two children. Nearby, and on the same day, Angelo Coppola, 64, the owner of a small construction company, killed himself at his home leaving a note blaming his despondency on his economic situtation.
Meanwhile in Milan, another business owner, Luigi Fenzi, 60, hanged himself from a tree. A note in the pocket of his shirt read: “Without work there is no dignity and I don’t have work anymore. I can’t pay my debts nor can I feed my family. It must end, I’m ashamed.”
The dramatic single-day tally follows a national outcry last month when a weeks-long string of suicides attributed to Italy's crisis, as the economic sunk back into recession. Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti responded Wednesday to “the human consequences” of the crisis, but later denied that he was referring specifically to the suicides. Italian trade unions have renewed their calls for a response from policymakers, noting in particular the situation of the “esodati,” or unemployed workers over 50 who are too young to receive any pension and too old to be retrained.
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