The massacre in Sri Lanka has opened doors for strongman Rajapaksa's return

More and more Sri Lankans had grown disillusioned with the combination of Sirisena and Wickremesinghe, who formed an alliance to defeat Rajapaksa in a landmark 2015 election

On a sunny day in Colombo some 18 months ago, more than 500 members of Sri Lanka’s political and business elite gathered along the Indian Ocean coastline to celebrate the opening of the Shangri-La Hotel.
 

The star-studded event, featuring both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, underscored the importance of the property beyond simply attracting more tourists: It was also a monument to Sri Lanka’s resurgence following a brutal three-decade civil war between the mostly Buddhist Sinhalese majority and predominately Hindu Tamils.
 

The Shangri-La was built on the old site of the army headquarters, which was shifted outside