The Communist Party secretary who led Latvia's Supreme Council through the restoration of independence
On 14 January 1991, General Kuzmin's ultimatum to the chairman of the Supreme Council was simple: repeal the laws Latvia had adopted, or the army would act. Gorbunovs did not repeal them, and a week later flew to Moscow to face Gorbachev.
A farmer's son from Pilda in eastern Latvia, he graduated from construction college, Riga Polytechnical Institute, and the Moscow Academy of Social Sciences, then rose through the Latvian Communist Party apparatus to become Central Committee secretary for ideology. He broke with the party's hard line in 1988 by backing the Latvian Popular Front, and as Chairman of the Supreme Council presided over the 4 May 1990 session that declared the Soviet Union an occupying power and began the transition to restored independence. During the January 1991 Barricades he stood firm against General Kuzmin's ultimatum, then flew to Moscow on 21 January to confront Gorbachev directly.
Career Timeline
- 1959–1965Technician at Nīkrāce state farm, employee at Riga Agricultural Engineering Institute, Soviet Army service
- 1970–1974Senior lecturer at Riga Polytechnical Institute, Kirov district Komsomol first secretary
- 1974–1988Various posts in the Latvian Communist Party Central Committee, rising to secretary for ideology
- 1988–1990Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR
- 1990–1993Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia, acting head of state after independence
- 1993–1995Speaker of the 5th Saeima
- 1995–2002Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Environmental Protection and Regional Development, Minister for Transport