With Latvia’s parliamentary election fast approaching, concern has been raised that eligible voters living in Brazil might not get the chance to cast their ballots.

The Central Elections Commission in Rīga has not been able to contact honorary consul Jānis Grimbergs in San Paulo, according to the Baltic News Service. As a result, information about the elections may not reach an estimated 100 eligible voters in Brazil.

In the 1998 parliamentary election, 118 votes were cast by Latvian citizens in Brazil.

The elections commission has asked the Foreign Ministry, to which Grimbergs reports, for assistance.

Immigrants in the United States seeking permanent resident status will have from Oct. 7-Nov. 6 to apply for the fiscal year 2004 diversity immigrant visa lottery, the U.S. State Department has announced.

Up to 55,000 permanent resident visas, known as green cards, will be granted under the program. The visas are reserved for persons from countries that have fewer than 50,000 immigrants to the United States annually.

In the fiscal 2003 lottery, a total of 172 Latvians won permanent residency.

Further information on the visa program is available from the Bureau of Consular Affairs Web site.

Latvian Foreign Minister Indulis Bērziņš has thanked the American Jewish Committee for its support of expanding the NATO defense alliance.

Bērziņš, according to an Aug. 20 foreign ministry press release, sent a letter to the Washington, D.C.-based organization in response to the committee’s July 30 announcement urging expansion.

Bērziņš’ letter came a day after a Riga-based group, the Jewish Survivors of Latvia, said it sent a letter to President George Bush and members of the U.S. Senate urging that Latvia not be allowed into NATO, according to Latvian media reports.

Although the American Jewish Committee supports Latvia’s and other nations’ efforts to join NATO, the committee also said the countries should “redouble their efforts in the months ahead to complete the still open process of restituting Jewish communal property and preserving Holocaust memory and its integrity.”