When Gotabaya Rajapaksa had nowhere else to go—protestors raging against him on the streets of Colombo, his opulent presidential residence overrun, blocked by airport immigration staff from boarding civil flights out of the country—he found sanctuary at a military base for his last night in Sri Lanka. The next day, 13 July, he and his wife finally escaped aboard a special air-force flight to the Maldives, leaving behind the country he and his brothers had led to complete economic ruin. In his darkest hour, Gotabaya knew that the military was the last institution still with the power to stand up to the people who had sent him running.
This story is from the August 2022 edition of The Caravan.
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This story is from the August 2022 edition of The Caravan.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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