[Editor’s note: The State Department FOIA release of 1981 withheld the first two paragraphs from this cable. They are denoted below in red type.
[The text for this document was released in 2014 by the now-defunct Wikileaks website at https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1979GEORGE01585_e.html. This URL may be available through the Wayback Machine.]
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GEORGE 01585 092343Z
ACTION OCS-06
INFO OCT-01 ARA-11 ADS-00 TRSE-00 CA-01 L-03 HEW-04 /026 W
——————005662 100017Z /23
R 061906Z APR 79
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 9387
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1585 E.O. 12065: NA
TAGS: CDES (PEOPLES TEMPLE)
SUBJ: US TREASURY CHECKS OF JONESTOWN DECEDENTS
REF: 78 STATE 315278
1. IN MEETING WITH AMBASSADOR AND DCM APRIL 5, MINISTER OF HEALTH, HOUSING AND LABOR HAMILTON GREEN HANDED OVER TO AMBASSADOR APPROXIMATELY 250 ADDITIONAL US TREASURY CHECKS, PRINCIPALLY SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS FOR JUNE AND JULY OF 1978. AN INVENTORY PER REFTEL WILL BE TRANSMITTED PROMPTLY.
2. THE CHECKS WERE AMONG THE CASH AND DOCUMENTS DELIVERED BY GEORGETOWN REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PEOPLE’S TEMPLE TO THE SOVIET EMBASSY IN GEORGETOWN ON NOVEMBER 18, 1978. SOME WEEKS LATER, THE SOVIET EMBASSY IS REPORTED TO HAVE DELIVERED THE MATERIAL TO THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
3. GIVEN THE FACTS THAT THE TWO BATCHES OF CHECKS NOW HELD BY THE CONSUL COMPRISE A LARGE SUM OF MONEY, THAT THEY ARE NEGOTIABLE, AND THAT THE ENTIRE PEOPLES TEMPLE SUBJECT IS LEGALLY COMPLICATED AND SENSITIVE, EMBASSY WOULD PREFER NOT TO CONTINUE TO RETAIN CHECKS AT POST.
4. ACTION REQUESTED: EMBASSY REQUESTS AUTHORIZATION TO
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TRANSFER CUSTODY OF CHECKS TO THE DEPARTMENT.
BURKE [U.S. Ambassador John Burke]
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