\n Anger is boiling over in Sri Lanka at the country's worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, much of it directed at the island nation's all-powerful Rajapaksa family.\n<\/p>\n
\n Late Thursday hundreds of people tried to storm the home of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the current president and one of four politically active brothers. In a night of violence one person was injured and 45 were arrested.\n<\/p>\n
\n AFP profiles the clan, which has held sway over the nation's politics for decades and which returned to power after a brief hiatus in 2019 when Gotabaya was elected president.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'The Chief' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Mahinda Rajapaksa, 76, is the charismatic head of the group and the current prime minister. He previously held the post in 2004, and was then president from 2005 to 2015.\n<\/p>\n
\n Gotabaya appointed him to the prime ministership a second time three years ago.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mahinda is adored by the Sinhala-Buddhist majority for crushing separatist Tamil rebels in May 2009 following a brutal military offensive that ended a decades-long civil war.\n<\/p>\n
\n The bloody final weeks of the civil war ended with -- according to UN estimates -- the deaths of around 40,000 civilians, who were herded into so-called no-fire zones that were then bombed by the Sri Lankan armed forces.\n<\/p>\n
\n Rajapaksa denied the toll and refused an international probe into alleged atrocities. A series of local enquiries have failed to yield either a proper war crimes investigation or prosecutions.\n<\/p>\n
\n During his rule Sri Lanka also moved closer to China, borrowing almost $7 billion for infrastructure projects -- many of which turned into white elephants mired in corruption.\n<\/p>\n
\n Critics say he also did little to bridge the divide with Sri Lanka's Tamils after the war. The community is barred from commemorating their war dead and remain largely marginalised.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'The Terminator' -\n<\/p>\n
\n President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 72, was Mahinda's main lieutenant during his time as head of state, holding the influential post of secretary to the defence ministry with day-to-day control of the armed forces and police.\n<\/p>\n
\n He denies accusations that he was behind death squads that abducted and \"disappeared\" dozens of opponents in notorious white vans.\n<\/p>\n
\n Dubbed \"The Terminator\" by his own family, he is feared by foes for his short temper.\n<\/p>\n
\n As president he has presided over Sri Lanka's spiralling economic crisis.\n<\/p>\n
\n A dire shortage of foreign currency -- needed to pay down Sri Lanka's debt -- forced the government to ban swathes of imports, causing severe shortages of essentials.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sri Lanka's heavily tourism-dependent economy was first hit by the Easter Sunday Islamist attacks of 2019 and then torpedoed by Covid.\n<\/p>\n
\n But many experts say that economic mismanagement by the Rajapaksas is also to blame including years of chronic budget deficits and ill-advised tax cuts.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Mr. Ten Percent' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Basil Rajapaksa, 70, is a political strategist who managed the economy under Mahinda and is now finance minister.\n<\/p>\n
\n He was called \"Mr. Ten Percent\" in a BBC interview in reference to commissions he allegedly took from government contracts.\n<\/p>\n
\n Subsequent administrations failed to prove any charges he syphoned off millions of dollars from state coffers. All cases against him have been dropped since Gotabaya became president.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'The Bodyguard' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Chamal Rajapaksa, 79, was speaker of parliament when Mahinda was president and is also a former minister of shipping and aviation. He currently holds the irrigation portfolio and is number two in the defence department under Gotabaya, who is also defence minister.\n<\/p>\n
\n Formerly a police officer, he once served as a personal bodyguard to Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the world's first woman prime minister.\n<\/p>\n
\n - The Scion -\n<\/p>\n
\n Namal Rajapaksa, 35, a lawyer, is the scion of the family dynasty and the eldest son of Mahinda, who is thought to be grooming him to be president one day.\n<\/p>\n
\n He entered parliament in 2010 aged just 24, and is now minister for sports and youth.\n<\/p>\n
\n During his father's decade in power, Namal was highly influential although he did not hold any portfolio.\n<\/p>\n
\n A rival former administration accused him of money laundering and other corruption charges, which he denies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Anger is boiling over in Sri Lanka at the country's worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, much of it directed at the island nation's all-powerful Rajapaksa family. Late Thursday hundreds of people tried to storm the home of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the current president and one of four politically active brothers. In a night of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-89654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n