Juan David Latorre
Latvian Ambassador Argita Daudze hosted a reception on Monday to commemorate her country’s 101-year history. We in Latvia understand very well the importance of living in freedom,” she said, “which, among other things, gives us access to true information, and thus avoids false and manipulated news.
The manipulations of the truth,” continued the Latvian representative, “offer the possibility of destroying the truth and creating an alternative reality. To avoid false news, it is very important that people and their political elites have critical thinking and follow the values according to which we want to live: truth, justice and solidarity.
Argita Daudze recalled some facts of Latvia’s history and reviewed its contemporary history since its independence in 1918, recalling the double Soviet occupation before and after the two world wars and the Nazi regime during World War II.
The Latvian ambassador pointed out “the great widespread lie that the Soviet Union sustained throughout its occupation”. “The fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union gave the opportunity for a new life without great lies or counterfeits.
“Now our democratic life has threats of false and manipulated information, which are spread by Social Networks or by television. We must have a good organization to fight against methods aimed at weakening our societies.
Ambassador Argita Daudze awarded a certificate from the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to three Spaniards who “have stood out over the last few years with their professional work and supporting my country to make it more remarkable in Spain”. The awards were given to Aurora Mejías, Director General of Western, Central and Southeast Europe in the Government of Spain; Santiago Velo de Antelo, Secretary General of the Diplomacy Academy and Director of the magazine Diplomacia Siglo XXI, and Alberto Rubio, Director of The Diplomat in Spain.
Finally, the general director, Aurora Mejías, expressed her desire to “deepen relations between Spain and Latvia, and that we have to bring our two countries and our two societies closer together”. She also expressed Spain’s pride in having its NATO troops on Latvian soil. “Bilateral relations, he said, have increased over the past year. Spain is the sixteenth country to receive Latvian exports, and Latvia’s eighteenth supplier.
But the sector highlighted by the director general was tourism, “more than 50,000 Latvian tourists visited Spain in 2018 and 2.8 million Spanish tourists visited Latvia.”Both countries have a lot in common, concluded.
