This is an unofficial translation of speech delivered by President Edgars Rinkēvičs at the Freedom Monument in central Rīga on the evening of November 18th, 2025.
Hello, my dear Latvia!
Happy 107th birthday! We celebrate it in municipalities, cities, and all over the world. Here too, at the Freedom Monument. At the monument, which turns ninety today. At the symbol of our people’s determination and vitality.
Our ancestors won our Fatherland and Freedom. We regained it. Our Fatherland and Freedom must be protected, not played with. If something is not working, it must be fixed, not destroyed. If we do not listen to the opposing opinion, our opinion also loses its meaning. By being self-righteous, we will lose each other. But we need each other more than ever.
We have the ability to unite for the common good. Like the founders of Latvia, we all have a common goal – a free and strong Latvia.
We must not lose our Latvia by chasing bright illusions. The light of our freedom comes from the West, not the East. And the fight for a bright Latvia continues every day.
Dear friends!
Let’s give goodness to our Latvia and let’s give goodness to each other! And we have a lot of goodness. Care, respect and love. We see this in our daily work in Latvia. We see this in the successes of our people both here and in the whole wide world. We see this in the flowers that lie beside our Fatherland and Freedom. We have a lot of goodness and we have a lot of strength.
We are a strong nation. Strength lies in the ability to see further. Strength lies in the ability to listen. Strength lies in a common path. And strength lies in finding a common path towards a great goal when seeming to be at a dead end.
Because we have a common source of strength – and that is our Latvia!
God bless Latvia!
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