The Downfall of Rajapaksa Regime
Months of ongoing unrest have deeply shaken Sri Lanka. Following the encirclement of the presidential palace and the residences of several leaders by protesters, the nation's president fled first to Singapore and then to the Maldives.
The president's resignation was subsequently announced by Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, the Speaker of the Sri Lankan House, who stated, "I have received the letter of resignation sent by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The president has legally resigned from his post on July 14, 2022."
Sri Lanka is currently grappling with its most severe economic crisis since gaining independence, with its 22 million citizens enduring months of shortages in food, fuel, and medicine.
The Rajapaksa family, often referred to as "The Rajapaksas," has been targeted by the "Struggle" movement, known as Aragalaya in Sinhalese, for their role in the country's troubles. This family had held political power in Sri Lanka for two decades. At one point, both President Gotabaya and his brother, former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, were admired for their firm stance against domestic terrorism and their efforts to rejuvenate the capital, Colombo. However, they are now in hiding, having fled from their own people.
So, what led to the rise and fall of the Rajapaksa family's power in Sri Lanka?
The history of Sri Lanka in the 2000s largely revolves around the Rajapaksa brothers, Mahinda and Gotabaya. Mahinda Rajapaksa assumed the role of prime minister in 2004, and the following year, he won the presidential election and initiated a comprehensive offensive against the militant separatist group known as the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), commonly referred to as the Tamil Tigers, which had been carrying out attacks in Sri Lanka since the 1970s. Mahinda's brother, Gotabaya, was appointed as the defense secretary and earned the nickname "the Terminator" for leading the army to victory over the LTTE. After securing a second term in office in 2010, Mahinda made constitutional changes to eliminate presidential term limits. Chamal, the youngest brother, became the Parliamentary Speaker, while Basil was tasked with economic development.
The Rise and Fall of the Rajapaksas...
After nearly a decade in power, Mahinda's favoritism and nepotism eroded trust among his own supporters, leading to his defeat in the 2015 presidential election. However, four years later, a series of Islamist suicide attacks known as the Easter bombings reignited fears of terrorism in Sri Lanka, prompting the Rajapaksa brothers to return to the political arena.
This time, Gotabaya became president, with Mahinda serving as his Prime Minister. Together, they promised "prosperity and splendor," but instead, the country experienced skyrocketing inflation and severe shortages of food and fuel.
Mismanagement of the economy
To finance their counterterrorism efforts and infrastructure projects, the Rajapaksas turned to China, which became a significant partner in South Asia, rivaling India and the United States. Sri Lanka played a crucial role in China's global trade expansion, known as the Belt and Road Initiative, and China became the primary lender to Colombo, accounting for approximately 10% of Sri Lanka's national debt.
The Rajapaksas used Chinese loans to build the Hambantota Port, but by 2017, Sri Lanka found itself unable to meet the debt obligations and was forced to lease the port and its surrounding land to China for 99 years. In an attempt to boost the struggling economy, Gotabaya implemented drastic tax cuts, which immediately reduced government revenues. Then, in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic struck, causing the tourism industry, which contributed 12% to the country's GDP, to collapse.
To conserve funds for foreign debt repayment, the government banned the import of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and mandated an abrupt transition to organic farming. This decision had disastrous consequences, with the country's major exports, such as tea and grains, severely affected. Tea production plummeted by over 18%, and grain production declined by 43%. While the government saved approximately US$400 million by banning fertilizers and another US$450 million on rice imports to address food shortages, Russia's invasion of Ukraine further exacerbated the country's fuel supply problems, leading to soaring costs and more food shortages.
