An Officer Called Cash

Andolino has become a celebrity in the former Yugoslavia, praised and insulted as it suits the warring sides

ANDOLINO: "I want to speak because I feel that my best intentions have been abused. All the warring sides have abused me: the Serbs declared me and my team heroes of their cause, the others have declared us criminals, sanctions busters and even traders in body parts. I am none of those things. I am doctor from Trieste and chairman of the Association of International Solidarity (ASIT). All my humanitarian activities were done in my free time and everything we brought in came from donations.

VREME: What earned you the title of hero?

ANDOLINO: "The best treatment came from the Italian authorities; the worst were the Slovenians. The Hungarians held me for nine days at a border parking lot and demanded a payment of 3,000 DEM. I didn't have that kind of money. I was woken every night by convoys of smuggled goods while I couldn't get humanitarian supplies through. At one point I got angry started my van and broke through the border ramp. I reached Yugoslav territory under gunfire. That's the "heroism". I only know of anger and fear later on."

VREME: From what I understand, most of the aid you brought went to the Serbs?

ANDOLINO: "I've never hidden the fact that I have a lot of friends who are doctors in Serbia and they asked me to help. I have no national prejudices and the main problem were logistics. It's easier and safer to get to Sarajevo and Bihac through Austria and Hungary than through Croatia. When I got the first shipment to Pale, Karadzic himself thanked me and the local TV filmed the shipment. Later, when I took a shipment to the Muslims, a doctor took me aside and said he recognized me from the Serb TV. He warned me never to come to the Muslim side personally. He warned me that he understands but the men with the guns don't and would kill me if they recognize me. The Muslims are disorganized and there a lot of anarchy. Anything's possible there.

First of all, they demand money to let you through. No money, no passage. Since I was warned away from the Muslim side my friend Carlo Bozzola has taken those shipments through. He was jailed in Bihac and they demanded that I come there personally before agreeing to an exchange which they insisted was not ransom. they demanded the goods from their list which cost over 200 million Lira.

Once we brought a boy from Pale who'd lost both legs. We hospitalized him in Trieste and got him artificial limbs. When he got back home there was a huge amount of propaganda which included me.

VREME: Who are your team?

ANDOLINO: "The team was myself and Bozzola and if we had more than two vehicles we got a volunteer from Trieste. Bozzola is very energetic and curious. He sometimes did more than just deliver shipments. Both the Serbs and Muslims sent messages through him offering cease-fires. At one point it seemed a cease-fire is possible. Neither side trusted UNPROFOR. One message said Dudakovic wanted a direct meeting with Mladic. In the end Bozzola was arrested by a squad of police who the Muslim 5th Corps did not control.

When we set out with two truckloads (sugar, flour and other goods donated and transported by the family of a man who's still in jail in Bihac) to complete the exchange for Bozzola my car phone rang. It was a high-ranking Muslim official who told me that a certain Eros Bicic, a journalist and Slovenian secret agent, sent an article to Corriere Dela Serra claiming that I had killed Muslim children in a Croatian concentration camp and taken their vital organs to sell.

I found out later that there was a place in Koper where the story originated. There were a series of accusations that we were spies, trading in human organs. They didn't even bother to find a body to back up their claims. The only way to transplant an organ is to take it from someone who's alive.

I'm not even a surgeon and I wouldn't be capable of doing those things. You need experts for that kind of thing. Probably all those reasons were why the Corriere didn't publish the article but it was published in the press in the former Yugoslavia."

VREME: You didn't say who is against you?

ANDOLINO: "A certain inspector Dervisevic decided that I would be an ideal hostage because I'm Karadzic's friend and since I can do transplants I must be rich. That insane obsession brought the Italian police to my home to see what it is I actually do. They left me alone once they realized the accusations came to nothing. Unfortunately, my name has been tarnished. For reasons I don't know, the whole thing was dreamed up in Slovenia. They tell me Bicic is Jansa's agent and he's continuing his efforts to blacken me via their TV even now that the Italian public is on my side. I asked Slovenian journalists to take my side. They said they understand the situation but they fear that someone very important is behind Bicic. I really don't know what and who is behind all this. Like most people from Trieste I'd like to go across the border to Slovenia to buy cheap gasoline but they won't let me."

VREME: You said you and Bozzola are poor. Did someone offer you money for services?

ANDOLINO: "I saw people with unbelievable amounts of German marks in Bosnia. A trader in Velika Kladusa offered me big money to bring him a truckload of Armani suits even though there was heavy fighting everywhere. The madness is unimaginable. They ordered luxury cars and waved wads of hard currency. One Serb-Italian trader wanted to join our group at any cost and offered big money. To me and Bozzola (who's even poorer than I am) it was tempting but also intimidating. In deals like that you don't stay alive long. It's better being a poor volunteer but after all my experiences, I think I won't even be that any more.