At one of the many demonstrations asking the departure of President Rajapaksa, police repression made a dead, Tuesday, April 19th.
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The Pacific protest of Sri Lankan to claim the departure of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa took a dramatic tour Tuesday, April 19. The police opened fire at the end of the day on protesters who had been blocking a highway and railways in Rambukkana, about a hundred kilometers from Colombo. A person is dead, 24 were wounded by bullet. A curfew has been imposed. The police justified by saying that she was trying to prevent protesters from fire to a fuel cistern.
Throughout the country, the Sri Lankans had once again mobilized to protest the shortage and the cost of fuel. For two months, motorists have had to wait for hours in front of the gas stations, to hope to fulfill their tank, and the main distributor decided to double its rates. Citizens are caught in the throat.
They pay the strong price of an economic and financial crisis of totally unprecedented magnitude. Indian Ocean Island, over-indebtedness, has enough foreign exchange reserves to import the essential goods and fuel needed to rotate thermal power plants. The inhabitants undergo interminable power outages. After months of deprivation, the population let out his anger on March 16, and continues to demonstrate since.
In the capital, the protesters occupy for twelve days the Esplanade de Galle face, along the sea. They established a camp in front of the presidential palace where large banners clament “Gota Go Home” (“Gota returns home You “).
35 billion dollars of debt
The executive couple formed by President GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSA and his brother Mahinda, who holds the chair of Prime Minister, conceded thin efforts. He presented, Monday, April 18, a new government, lightened family members, brother, son, cousin, so far the ministerial portfolios. The Chair recognized two errors: having late the assistance of the International Monetary Fund and in May 2021 have been banned overnight, the use of agrochemicals, thus penalizing millions of farmers. He had returned to this decision a few months later.
The street, as the parliamentary opposition, considers that the crisis can only be solved by the departure of the duo Rajapaksa, which has lost too much legitimacy to impose the necessary reforms. For the first time, the State announced on April 12 that it suspended the reimbursement of the external public debt service, which amounts to $ 35 billion (about 32 billion euros). The country is no longer able to repay this burden. The sanction has been immediate, the rating agencies have downgraded it into the category of “high-risk countries”.
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