A political reckoning in Sri Lanka as economic crisis grows

https://www.npr.org/2022/04/28/ [login to see] /a-political-reckoning-in-sri-lanka-as-economic-crisis-grows
Sherry Fonseka joined millions in 2019 in electing President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a military strategist whose brutal campaign helped end Sri Lanka's 30-year civil war 10 years earlier.

Now he is one of thousands who, for weeks, have protested outside the president's office, calling on Rajapaksa and his brother, Mahinda, who is prime minister, to resign for leading the country into its worst economic crisis since its independence from Britain in 1948.

With the island teetering near bankruptcy, Fonseka, who owns a small garment business in the capital, Colombo, has resorted to spending his own savings to pay the salaries of his 30 employees. But he knows he will soon have to let them go and is clear about who is to blame.

"All of us thought we made the correct decision (to elect Rajapaksa), but we've realized we were wrong. We should have the backbone to tell people, and the world, that we made a mistake," he said.