A senior intelligence official has accused the CIA of obstructing the U.S. government’s own investigation into the origins of COVID-19—alleging withheld records, retaliation against cooperating staff, and surveillance of investigators.
Testifying before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, James Erdman III, who led the ODNI probe under the Trump administration, said agency personnel were “spied upon illegally” while carrying out directives authorized at the highest levels of government. Erdman further claimed the CIA suppressed internal assessments pointing to a lab leak and punished analysts who refused to abandon that conclusion.
His testimony comes amid a shifting official stance. In January 2025, the CIA—under Director John Ratcliffe—publicly stated that a lab leak is now the most likely origin of the pandemic, reversing years of ambiguity. Earlier intelligence summaries released under the Biden administration showed a divided community, with agencies split between natural origin, lab leak, and inconclusive positions. Erdman also pointed to the influence of former COVID adviser Anthony Fauci, alleging that scientists consulted by intelligence agencies were not neutral, but closely tied to gain-of-function research—the very field under scrutiny.
Congress had mandated full disclosure of intelligence findings in 2023, yet only a brief, partially redacted summary was released. Now, according to Erdman, efforts by ODNI under Director Tulsi Gabbard to declassify roughly 2,000 documents are being slowed by resistance from the CIA and State Department. He cited the firing of a CIA contractor just one day after speaking with investigators as further evidence of institutional pushback.
“The deep state still resists this congressional mandate,” said Senator Rand Paul, who has long argued that a lab leak is the most plausible explanation and is pushing for stricter oversight of high-risk research. Meanwhile, a promised policy to restrict gain-of-function research—ordered by the Trump administration for release by September 2025—remains outstanding.
Erdman warned that continued resistance from both intelligence and public health agencies is now stalling reforms aimed at preventing future pandemics.
https://i0.wp.com/592guardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/img_0109.jpg?fit=1090%2C705&ssl=17051090Editorhttps://592guardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/for-papaer-300x114.pngEditor2026-05-14 11:59:512026-05-14 11:59:51Whistleblower: CIA Blocked, Spied on COVID Investigators
Bangkok, Thailand — May 12, 2026 — A rare and exceptionally large ruby weighing approximately 11,000 carats (2.2 kilograms or 4.8 pounds) has been discovered in Myanmar’s famed Mogok gem region, marking one of the most significant gemstone finds in recent decades.
According to state-run media, the rough ruby was unearthed in mid-April near Mogok, located in the upper Mandalay region — an area long regarded as the epicenter of Myanmar’s lucrative ruby mining industry. The discovery occurred shortly after the country’s traditional New Year celebrations. The newly found gemstone is considered the second-largest ruby ever discovered in Myanmar by weight. While it is roughly half the size of a 21,450-carat ruby uncovered in 1996, experts suggest it may be of greater value due to its superior quality. The stone reportedly exhibits a purplish-red hue with yellowish undertones, moderate transparency, and a highly reflective surface — characteristics associated with high-grade rubies.
Myanmar remains the world’s dominant source of rubies, accounting for up to 90% of global supply, with most originating from Mogok and Mong Hsu. However, the gemstone trade has long been mired in controversy, as both legal and illicit sales have historically provided substantial revenue to military authorities and armed groups.
Human rights organizations, including Global Witness, have repeatedly called on transnational jewelers to halt the purchase of Myanmar-sourced gemstones, citing concerns that proceeds contribute to ongoing conflict and human right.
The discovery comes amid continued political instability in Myanmar. Earlier this year, a new government was installed following elections widely criticized by opposition groups and international observers as lacking credibility. President Min Aung Hlaing, the military leader who seized power in 2021, remains at the helm. He and members of his cabinet recently inspected the ruby in Naypyitaw, the nation’s capital. Gemstone mining continues to play a dual role in Myanmar’s prolonged internal conflict, serving as a major revenue source for both the military establishment and ethnic armed groups seeking autonomy.
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President Irfaan Ali wants investors to come prepared, to do their homework, and to stop treating Guyana like a drive-through market. Fair enough. But the problem is that this is the same administration that has spent years cultivating exactly the kind of investment culture it now wants to scold—one marked by preferential access, political convenience, and a troubling tolerance for foreign actors who seem to get the soft landing locals never receive.
The President is not setting standards so much as trying to retrofit them after the fact.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐆𝐮𝐲𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭
Guyana cannot spend years projecting itself as open for business at any cost, then act offended when investors come expecting access, speed, and influence. That image was reinforced by the government’s defensive posture on the oil contract, where the 2% royalty arrangement remains protected behind the familiar shield of contract sanctity, even as ordinary Guyanese are told to accept the deal as settled history. A state that refuses to revisit glaring imbalances in its most consequential contract cannot suddenly pose as a hard-headed gatekeeper when it is convenient.
The message abroad is not hard to decode: some deals are untouchable, some interests are protected, and some players are simply more welcome than others.
𝐖𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠
That is why Congressman Gabe Evans’s recent letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio matters. Evans warned of “creeping Chinese influence” in Guyana and raised alarms about reports of Chinese firms securing contracts, financing, and political footholds in ways that could threaten U.S. interests in energy, diplomacy, and critical minerals. In plain terms, Guyana is not only being watched; it is being scrutinized for the very habits its leadership has normalized.
So when Ali stands before an American audience and lectures on investor expectations, the paradox is obvious. He is effectively telling U.S. investors to temper their assumptions while Washington is already asking whether Guyana has become too accommodating to Chinese influence.
𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐦
The U.S. ambassador’s point about predictability cuts straight through the noise. Predictability means rules that are clear, consistent, and applied without regard to who has the best political connections. It does not mean one set of doors for locals, another for foreign firms, and a VIP corridor for the well-connected.
That distinction matters because the complaints from Guyanese businesses are not imaginary. Local truckers have protested what they describe as a system that favors Chinese-linked firms and squeezes out domestic operators, with some alleging that contracts and access flow through family ties, political connections, and selective facilitation.
When local players are forced to shout just to be treated fairly, the government has already admitted the weakness of its own system.
𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞
The administration’s favorite phrase—sanctity of contract—has become a political refuge. It is invoked to shut down calls for renegotiating oil terms, yet it is rarely accompanied by equal vigor in defending local enterprise from unfair competition or foreign dominance.
That is the real sting in this debate: the government is fiercely principled when protecting corporate arrangements, but noticeably flexible when the national interest requires courage.That is not consistency. It is choreography.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐩𝐞𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦
The accusation now hanging over the administration is not simply that it welcomes investment. It is that it has rolled out the red carpet for certain foreign actors, especially Chinese businesses, and then turned around to demand restraint from everyone else.You cannot preach prudence to investors while refusing to exercise it on behalf of your own citizens.
This is not a neutral posture. It is a choice—one that signals to global capital that Guyana is willing to prioritize investor comfort over national leverage. When disputes arise, the government has too often appeared aligned with oil majors rather than the Guyanese people, particularly on issues of environmental liability, cost recovery audits, and regulatory enforcement. The result is a credibility gap wide enough to swallow the President’s Houston remarks whole.
Investors notice these signals, and so do citizens
A country cannot market itself as business-friendly, then punish the public for believing it.
𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠
If President Ali wants to be taken seriously, he must first explain why Guyana keeps attracting the same complaints: one-sided contracts, preferential treatment, weak procurement credibility, and a pattern of accommodation that now has even U.S. lawmakers sounding alarms. The issue is not that investors need to come prepared. The issue is that Guyana’s government should have prepared its own house long ago.
Until it does, the President’s lecture will remain what it sounded like in Houston: not a statement of principle, but an attempt to put discipline on an image his own administration helped create.
If President Ali truly wants investors to come prepared, then the government must first do its own preparation—by strengthening institutions, enforcing accountability, and demonstrating that Guyana is not just open for business, but serious about protecting its people, its resources, and its future.
Because in the end, the investment climate is not defined by speeches in Houston.
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The United States has taken the extraordinary step of revoking tourist visas for five board members of La Nación, Costa Rica’s most influential newspaper—an action critics warn could send a dangerous signal to independent media across the region.
Pedro Abreu, CEO and chairman of Grupo Nación, the parent company of La Nación, said he first learned of the revocations not through official diplomatic channels, but through media reports circulating online. “I checked my email… I had no official communication,” Abreu revealed. “I searched on a U.S. government website, entered my visa information, and saw it had been revoked.”
Even more troubling, local outlets reportedly published detailed personal data—including names, dates of birth, and visa expiration dates—raising serious questions about privacy breaches and the handling of sensitive information.
Whether these latest revocations are linked to Costa Rica’s recent agreement to accept up to 25 deportees per week remains unclear. The U.S. State Department has offered no explanation.
For journalists and media institutions across the Caribbean and Latin America, the message is unsettling. When executives of a leading newspaper can be penalized without due process or transparency, it raises legitimate fears about the erosion of press freedom and the potential use of state power to intimidate independent voices.
This is no longer just a Costa Rican issue. It is a regional warning
https://592guardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/for-papaer-300x114.png00Editorhttps://592guardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/for-papaer-300x114.pngEditor2026-05-07 10:15:182026-05-07 10:15:18“A Chilling Precedent: the US targets Media Executives in Costa Rica.”
