His ignominious departure was almost a carbon copy of his big brother’s: Mahinda resigned in May after his official residence also was swarmed by an angry mob. On Saturday, President Rajapaksa fled after thousands of protesters stormed the presidential palace. The turmoil in Sri Lanka is a dire warning sign in this period of inflationary unrest to developing economies - Nigeria, Laos, Argentina, Pakistan and others - battered by debt and mounting food and fuel prices. The calamity unfolding in Sri Lanka has many causes: debilitating debt, China’s geopolitical ambitions, the pandemic, the turmoil in global food and fuel markets caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine - and underlying it all are the hubris and recklessness of the Rajapaksa dynasty. They promised “vistas of prosperity and splendor.” Instead, they delivered soaring inflation, severe food and fuel shortages, power blackouts and a country on the precipice of collapse. This time, Gotabaya, 73, became president and appointed Mahinda, 76, as his prime minister. Gotabaya’s reputation for decisiveness brought the siblings - pushed out of office in 2015 - back to power four years later, after a series of Islamist suicide bombings stirred renewed fondness for their ruthless ways.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa came to be known as the Terminator for crushing Sri Lanka’s nearly three-decade Tamil insurgency in 2009 as a defense official during the presidency of his older brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Ks komireddi