Che Guevara of Ceylon

JVP (Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna) is a communist and Marxist–Leninist party in Sri Lanka. The party was involved in a major armed uprising against the ruling governments in 1971. The 1971 armed revolt lasted two and half months. The insurgents were able to capture and hold several towns and rural areas for several weeks until they were recaptured by the armed forces. 

The rebellion was led by Rohana Wijeweera. Apparently, he could not continue his medical studies in Russia, due to his publicly known sympathy for China. It was during his studies at the Lumumba University in Moscow that he worked on his theory of Marxism and revolution, Wijeweera did not like Russian model of socialist takeover, but took inspiration from some contemporary pseudo-revolutionary theories popular among his contemporaries like Kassim Hanga of Zanzibar and Che Ali of Indonesia.

Insurgents had limited success in the initial stages,they got control of few districts, block few important roads, cut power lines.Many countries responded to Sri Lankan government‘s call for support Including India, Pakistan, Britain and Soviet Russia. The insurrection fizzled out in few months.

This insurrection coincided with Naxalbari movement (1967-75) of India. Both tried to capture power by violent means and were inspired by Marxist-Lelin-Mao. Both failed!!! The Soviet Russian support for Sri Lankan government was interesting.