ரோகண விஜயவீர

ரோகண வீஜயவீர (ஜூலை 14, 1943 - நவம்பர் 13, 1989) மக்கள் விடுதலை முன்னணியின் முன்னாள் தலைவர். a prominent follower of Che Guevara and Sri Lankan revolutionary whose communist views of spreading wealth to the poorer classes earned him great popularity.

A clever student born on "Bastile Day" (14th July 1789 - The French Revolution) in a coastal fishing village Kottegoda in southern Sri Lanka. His father was an active member of Communist Party of Sri Lanka (pro-Russian wing) and very close to Dr. S.A. Wickramasinghe. Later he was disabled after an attack of the opponent United National Party (UNP) thugs. He went to Lumumba University to study medicine. He conducted revolutionary activities and felt that the system existing in the USSR at that time was not real communism. He was expelled from Russia as a result of this. He returned to Sri Lanka and gained a large following in his beliefs in helping the poor. On the 14th May 1965 he formed the JVP after a discussion in a house at Akmeemana in Galle district southern Sri Lanka.

Like Che Guevara he raised an army but the Government found out and he was not prepared; the 1971 uprising followed: a brief but violent struggle that claimed 15,000 lives. Wijeweera was imprisoned but remained a popular figure.

In the 1977 elections, J.R Jayawardene promised to release him if he was elected. This earned him many votes and when Jayawardene was elected, Wijeweera was released.

The JVP was offered a chance at democratic elections and gained around 4% of the votes in the 1982 presidential election. However, civil disorder and mistreatment of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka followed. Jayawardene blamed the JVP for this and the leaders of the JVP were captured. Wijeweera managed to escape, but in the violence that followed, Wijeweera was captured and