Eighteen inspectors roam the country, making surprise visits to police departments or hailing taxi cabs to test the drivers Latvian skills. The government says the inspectors often let offenders off with a warning, and insists they have so far never forced anyone out of a job or permanently closed a business. I am 100 percent sure that we must regulate these because this is the only place in all the world where the Latvian language can survive, said Baldurs Apinis, vice chairman of the radio and television council, which wants to shut down Radio Bizness. Many Russians say that even when they try to learn Latvian, they are resented. The language is used as a stick to beat us, said Aleksandrs Rhzavin, an ethnic Russian who belongs to a group that campaigns for expanded cultural rights for Russians.
Russian speakers claim the law is often used to silence unpopular views.
In 1997, Russian schoolteachers Anatonia Ignatane, a critic of government policy to close Russian schools, campaigned for a seat on the Riga City Council. Just before the election, language inspectors claimed her Latvian skills were not up to holding public office. If there s someone they want to punish, they just find fault with his language abilities. During Soviet times, many Latvians feared their language would one day die. Now officials feel they have a second chance, even if they can t restore the times when Latvians and their language were dominant.