During a parade to mark Myanmar’s Armed Forces Day on March 27, General Min Aung Hlaing, military tunic festooned with medals, inspected thousands of soldiers from an open-top jeep. The display of pomp was a signal of the 66-year-old’s viselike grip over the nation of 54 million since his February 2021 coup d’état.
From his podium, he warned that the pro-democracy rebels he is embroiled in a blood-soaked campaign against would be “tackled for good and all.” Since the putsch, villages have been terrorized by artillery and air raids, leaving tens of thousands killed and more than a million displaced. Even before he seized power, the U.N. accused him of massacring Rohingya Muslims with “genocidal intent.”
Min Aung Hlaing has returned Myanmar to a pariah state and made it the world’s second most authoritarian regime, per the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2022 Democracy Index. Only Taliban-ruled Afghanistan ranked worse.
Campbell is a TIME correspondent
- Breaking Down the 2024 Election Calendar
- What if Ultra-Processed Foods Aren’t as Bad as You Think?
- How Ukraine Beat Russia in the Battle of the Black Sea
- The Reintroduction of Kamala Harris
- Long COVID Looks Different in Kids
- How Project 2025 Would Jeopardize Americans’ Health
- What a $129 Frying Pan Says About America’s Eating Habits
- The 32 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2024