[Editor’s note: The full text of this lengthy cable document was released in 2014 by the now-defunct Wikileaks website at https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1979GEORGE00192_e.html. This URL may be available through the Wayback Machine.
[This excerpt includes the single paragraph related to the Jonestown tragedy.]
CONFIDENTIAL PAGE 01
GEORGE 00192 01 OF 03 151648Z
ACTION ARA-15
INFO OCT-01 ISO-00 SS-15 SP-02 NSC-05 SIG-03 MMO-01 CIAE-00 INR-10 NSAE-00 DODE-00 PM-05 L-03 A-02 PA-01 ICA-11 EB-08 TRSE-00 OMB-01 AID-05 HA-05 COME-00 IO-14 OES-09 LAB-04 SIL-01 CA-01 SNM-05 DEAE-00 ACDA-12 DOE-15 SOE-02 DOEE-00 NRC-05 /161 W
——————055512 151813Z /50 P
R 151149Z JAN 79
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8719
INFO AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN
AMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN
AMEMBASSY KINGSTON
CINCSOUTH
CINCLANT
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 1 OF 3 GEORGETOWN 0192
CINCSOUTH AND CINCLANT FOR POLAD
E.O. 12065: GDS 1/25/85 (BURKE, JOHN R.) OR-M
TAGS: AMGT, OGEN, PEPR, JM
SUBJ: U.S. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES IN GUYANA
REF: 78 STATE 207307
… 7. FINALLY, IT SHOULD BE NOTED AS AN INDICATION OF IMPROVED BILATERAL RELATIONS THAT BOTH GOVERNMENT HAVE COOPERATED WELL IN THE TRAUMATIC AFTEREFFECTS OF THE JONESTOWN TRAGEDY. THUS FAR THE GUYANESE GOVERNMENT’S COOPERATION HAS BEEN EXTRAORDINARILY GOOD, AND THE STRAIN ON THE BILATERAL RELATIONSSHIP HAS BEEN REMARKEDLY LIGHT.
… BURKE [U.S. Ambassador John Burke]