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PART III
SUSPICIOUS CALLS AND
INTRUSIONS INTO THE
AFFAIRS OF PEOPLES TEMPLE
IN GUYANA
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND TO THE ATTEMPTS TO DISRUPT THE PROGRESS OF PEOPLES TEMPLE’S GUYANA PROJECT
II. DISRUPTIVE INCIDENTS
- JOSEPH MAZOR’S PHONE BILL TO THE GUYANESE AMBASSADOR IN WASHINGTON, DC
- NEGATIVE PRESS ARTICLES SENT TO GUYANESE HEADS OF STATE
- US EMBASSY IN GUYANA RECEIVES A CALL FROM THE “ATTORNEY GENERAL”
- INTRUDER INTO THE PROJECT GROUNDS IN THE INTERIOR
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INTRODUCTION
In the past few weeks there have been a number of provoking telephone calls, letters, and even an intruder trying to get information on our agricultural project in Guyana. These occurrences, as best we can ascertain, have been spurred by people in the United States who are hostile to the programs of Peoples Temple, whether in the States or abroad. We are working at this time to get documentation of each of these incidents mentioned herein. We believe they constitute attempts to disrupt the progress of the Peoples Temple project in Guyana by causing Guyanese officials to lose faith in our good intentions and sincerity of purpose.
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RELATED INCIDENTS
I. The Ambassador to the United States from Guyana (located in Washington, D. C.) Was called by an “investigator” Joseph Mazor. Mr. Mazor claimed that Peoples Temple had abducted 20 children and that he had a plane standing by and was ready to retrieve them. The Ambassador, Mr. Lawrence Mann, told Mr. Mazor that if he had any such problems, he should call the FBI, or whatever agency would be responsible for investigating such a matter. Mr. Mann then called the District Attorney in San Francisco and found that no charges had been made against the Temple. Mr. Mann then called the Temple to let us know what had happened.
In the course of the conversation Mr. Mann also mentioned that a Mr. Jim Cobb from California had called members of his staff complaining about our presence in Guyana. (Jim Cobb was formerly a member of Peoples Temple and has, in recent weeks, become very vocal against the Temple in the news media.)
II. The Head of State and the Office of the Prime Minister of Guyana both received packets of recent press clippings about Peoples Temple. Of course these clippings have been
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far less than complimentary about our program, and we do search the question the motivation of whoever it was that sent them.
III. The United States Embassy in Guyana received a call from the “Attorney General.” This call talked about Peoples Temple as having “abducted some 20 children.” The Embassy called the Guyanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Fred Wills. Mr. Wills in turn contacted members of Peoples Temple in Georgetown about the complaint of the “Attorney General.” At this point we are checking to determine the veracity of these calls. We are inclined to disbelieve them, because they represent quite unorthodox behavior for an official agency and that someone other than legitimate governmental and law enforcement agencies are responsible for the calls to both the United States and Guyanese Embassies.
As it happened, the call to the United States Embassy did not serve to divide the Guyanese from us. Rather, the call was interpreted by Mr. Wills as an act “to intrude in the affairs of a sovereign nation…” Whoever made this call did the United States no service whatsoever.
IV. A Caucasian man came onto our project in the Guyanese interior on the eighth of August, 1977. He had been stopped by the police in Port Kaituma and had told him he knew
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some of the people working on our project. When the man arrived on the project, he pointed out a child to one of the project workers and asked what the child was doing there. For the first few minutes this man feigned a Guyanese accent, although he did not maintain this accent throughout his stay. He said his name was Givaio, a Guyanese name. He told our people that he had a place to stay in Port Kaituma, so they took him there and dropped him off. As the members of our project were leaving Port Kaituma, then looked back and saw this man going down the river on a lumber boat. He has not been seen in Port Kaituma since.
While he was on our project he asked many pointed questions: How do we fund the project? How do we protect it? Do we have weapons? He also asked these questions of Guyanese Amerindians he met along the roadside. He also asked how many people were coming, or something to that effect. One of our people noticed that it was odd that he claimed to have walked the three-mile road from the nearest community to our project, and yet there was no trace of mud as would have normally collected on his shoes. It had just rained.
V. On Friday, August 26, 1977, our travel agent, Ms. Marsha Beebe, of Jackson Travel Service, receive a phone call from someone named “Dave.” Marsha said she did not catch the last name. She told us he wanted to know when the next time was scheduled for a group of people from Peoples Temple to
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leave for Guyana. She told the caller she did not have any reservations for Guyana. She asked him who had told him to call her, and he replied that the airlines had. She asked him who he was, and he answered, “Just a concerned party.”
We consider calls to travel agents to find out scheduled flights for private parties, calls Guyanese and United States Ambassadors, and other intrusions mentioned here to be nothing less than the work of people who are intent on trying to disrupt the alternative program in Guyana and the work of the Peoples Temple here.