Pulitzer Center Untold Stories

Latvia Moves Leftward in Recent Elections

Kristina Rizga, for the Pulitzer Center 
Images by Akim Aginsky, for the Pulitzer Center

"Fire the Parliament! Fire the Parliament! Latvia! Latvia!" thousands of Latvians chanted on January 13, 2009. A roaring crowd dominated by young men moved toward the Parliament building in an attempt to take it over. Security forces wearing hard helmets and body shields moved in to thwart their advance. Enraged protesters threw rocks and bottles at the police. What started as a peaceful protest of 10,000 people turned into the worst riot Latvia has seen since re-gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Fifty people were injured and 100 arrested for overturning police cars and looting stores. As Latvia is experiencing one the sharpest economic downturns in Europe, protesters came out to oppose the widespread cuts in everything from employment to social services to hospital beds. Many Latvians feel that the government is squeezing the masses without imposing similar sacrifices on the political and financial elites.

Shelters For the Elders

Kristina Rizga, for the Pulitzer Center

Imaged by Akim Aginsky, for the Pulitzer Center

  

The deep-seated wrinkles on Dzintra Vorfolomejeva’s reddish face make her look older than her 62 years. She sits underneath a small metal roof structure built to provide cover for the garbage containers, here in the Pardaugava District of Riga, with plastic bags around her containing what’s left of her life: a couple of blankets, some soap, pillow and a hairbrush. She found food in the midst of the garbage today -- a loaf of bread, smoked fish and boiled eggs. She loves reading glossy magazines that are carefully tucked under her blankets. From November to May, when temperatures in Latvia hover between 40 and 3 degrees Fahrenheit, Vorfolomejeva stays at a homeless shelter. But when the weather turns warm, she prefers sleeping outdoors near her old apartment that is still vacant. “I like being close to my old friends. I also take care of ducks in the creek here and have to feed my cat-friends,” she laughs. 

Latvia: Small Farmers Weather the Economic Storm, Large Farmers Hit Hard

Kristina Rizga, for the Pulitzer Center

Images by Akim Aginsky, for the Pulitzer Center

This blog entry was reprinted at World Focus and The Huffington Post

Sixty-year-old farmer Marite Martuzane wakes up every morning at 4:30 and rarely goes to sleep before midnight. Unlike most sectors of the Latvian economy that have slowed dramatically, many small farms that sell directly to their clients have more work than they can handle.

"We are somehow doing better in the economic crisis," Martuzane explains with a broad, warm smile, as she gives us a tour of her small farm in Adazi, a rural town about 30 minutes away from the capital city of Riga. "People buy more at farmer's markets now to save money."

Latvia: Sobering Lessons in Unregulated Lending

Kristina Rizga, for the Pulitzer Center
Images by Akim Aginsky

Latvia is an unusually dark and quiet place these days. As I descended into the Riga International Airport on May 6th, the city streets looked deserted. According to most Latvians I spoke with, there are about 50% less cars on the streets than last spring. People are unable to cover their car payments, and banks are taking their cars away. As a result, the first signs of unpaid debts that showed up in Riga were car lots with repossessed vehicles.

It also seems as if someone forgot to turn on the lights at night in Riga. About half of the streetlights are off. Hundreds of stores are closed or don’t have lights in their once opulent storefronts. For the first time since Latvia broke off from the Soviet Union, even the most powerful symbol of independence and National pride – the Monument of Freedom in downtown Riga – is halfway lit.

The main two daily newspapers on May 12 devoted their entire front pages to a huge graphic that shows an 18% drop in the GDP of the first quarter of this year. The economy of the European Union overall shrank 2.5% in the first three months of 2009 – the worst indicator in decades.