“A CIA Trap to Capture the Youth…”
This was the headline of the ‘Aththa’ newspaper published by the Sri Lanka Communist Party. The headline claimed that Rohana Wijeweera, under the direction of the CIA, had formed a party called the JVP and was misleading young men and women in preparation for an uprising against the left-leaning United Front government.
It is well known that the United Front government, which came to power in 1970, received support from the Soviet Union. The reason was that both the Communist Party and the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, which depended on the Soviet Union, were partners in that government. At the time, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the Bandaranaike leadership were also pro-Soviet.
The leaders of the Communist Party and the Lanka Sama Samaja Party believed that the American CIA intelligence service was using the JVP — a young leftist force — in the same way one uses a tree from the jungle to destroy another tree in the jungle to overthrow a government established with Soviet support.
Rohana Wijeweera himself had gone to the Soviet Union to study with the assistance of the Communist Party. However, while in the Soviet Union he began supporting Chinese communist ideology in opposition to Soviet communist ideology. That stance forced him to abandon his studies midway and return to Sri Lanka. After returning, Wijeweera began promoting Chinese communist ideology.
One reason Wijeweera embraced Chinese communist ideology was that the Communist Party and the Lanka Sama Samaja Party were firmly aligned with the Soviet Union. Although Wijeweera sought Soviet assistance to form the JVP as an alternative to the traditional left, the Soviet Union did not move away from the Communist Party and the Lanka Sama Samaja Party. Even when Wijeweera sought Soviet help for the 1971 uprising, the Soviet Union instead supported and protected the United Front government.
During this period, although China was a communist country, it was aligned with the United States. While India and the Soviet Union were in one camp, China and the United States were in the other. This China-US relationship, along with Wijeweera’s loyalty to Chinese communism, was another reason why the ‘Aththa’ newspaper described Wijeweera as a CIA agent.
After 1983, India’s Congress government began supporting Tamil militant groups in Sri Lanka because the government of President J.R. Jayewardene was seen as pro-American. At the time, the Soviet Union strongly supported India’s foreign policy decisions in South Asia, since India’s actions reduced American influence in the region.
India pressured the Jayewardene government to sign the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord partly in response to Jayewardene’s decision to lease the Voice of America broadcasting facility and the Trincomalee oil tank farm to the United States. The Communist Party and the Lanka Sama Samaja Party supported the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord because they viewed it as a Soviet-aligned, anti-American agreement.
Wijeweera and the JVP launched a campaign of terror against the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, which the Communist Party and the LSSP saw as a CIA contract operation. The government of Rajiv Gandhi, which signed the agreement, also believed that the CIA was attempting to sabotage the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord by using both Prabhakaran and Wijeweera.
Whatever the truth behind those claims, many years after Wijeweera’s death, and now that a JVP-led government is in power, political circles in Colombo have begun discussing the government’s pro-American policy.
“Is the Government Afraid of America?”
Looking at the government’s lukewarm response to Donald Trump’s intervention in Venezuela and the invasion of Iran, it appears either that the government is engaged in some kind of secret deal with the United States or that it is afraid of America. The government’s policy toward Israel also raises questions.
When the United States invaded Iraq, the JVP stirred the entire country by accusing then-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government of failing to oppose the invasion. On October 7, 2002, current Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath and Bimal Rathnayake led a public protest march to the US Embassy, surrounding it and demanding that the United States immediately withdraw from Iraq.
In 2020, when the United States assassinated an Iranian military commander, the JVP Political Bureau issued a statement condemning the act. In 2024, the JVP Political Bureau also condemned the US attack on Iran, describing Trump as a threat to world peace.
When President Ranil Wickremesinghe sent the Sri Lankan Navy to the Red Sea to assist in suppressing the Iran-backed Houthis in Syria, the JVP warned that Sri Lanka would face dangerous consequences. The party said this was an attempt to drag Sri Lanka into a global war. It also stated that Sri Lanka should not support Israel.
Yet today, when the United States claims responsibility for attacking an Iranian ship that burned near Sri Lanka’s maritime boundary, the JVP government insists that no such attack took place.
When Trump announced that he would attack Iran, the commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral Steve, visited Sri Lanka and met with the Deputy Foreign Minister, the Deputy Defence Minister, and senior defence officials.
“Is there a connection between Admiral Steve’s visit to Sri Lanka and the Iranian ship destroyed in Sri Lankan waters?”
That is difficult to say. However, when one observes the JVP government’s response to the US intervention in Venezuela, the attack on Iran, and the Iranian ship destroyed near Sri Lanka’s maritime boundary, it appears as if the United States has brought the JVP government under its influence.
“What Benefit Does Sri Lanka Gain?”
Iran has been a country that has greatly assisted Sri Lanka. It was Iran that helped build the Sapugaskanda oil refinery, Sri Lanka’s only oil refinery. Without Iran, Sri Lanka would not have the Sapugaskanda refinery.
In 2008, Iran promised to help upgrade the refinery, but Sri Lanka hesitated because of American sanctions.
Iran also assisted in building the Uma Oya project.
When Sri Lanka went bankrupt and said it did not have dollars to pay for the oil it had purchased from Iran, Iran offered Sri Lanka major relief by allowing the debt to be repaid with tea instead.
It is therefore a mystery why the JVP government has decided to act ungratefully toward a country like Iran.
