A brief history of the rise, fall of Sri Lanka’s president

By KRUTIKA PATHI
Associated Press

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Before he fled Sri Lanka on Wednesday, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the last of six members of the country’s most influential family still clinging to power. For decades, the powerful land-owning Rajapaksa family dominated local politics in their rural southern district. Rajapaksa followed in the footsteps of his older brother, who was president for 10 years until 2015. In 2019, he won the presidential election on a promise to restore security in the wake of terrorist suicide bombings on Easter Sunday that killed 290 people. He vowed to lead the country out of an economic slump; instead, he made a series of fatal mistakes that ushered in an unprecedented crisis.