[Editor’s note: This document was released both as a State Department cable as part of its 1981 FOIA release, and as Serial 968 of the FBI’s RYMUR release.
[The text for this document was released in 2014 by the now-defunct Wikileaks website at https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1978STATE310389_d.html. This URL may be available through the Wayback Machine.]
UNCLASSIFIED
PAGE 01
STATE 310389
ORIGIN L-03
INFO OCT-01 ARA-15 ISO-00 JUSE-00 PA-02 CA-01 SCS-06 H-02 FBIE-00 SSO-00 NSCE-00 /030 R
DRAFTED BY L/ARA:M.KOZAK:JV
APPROVED BY L/ARA:M.KOZAK
L – L. MARKS (SUBS)
ARA/PPC – K. MARSHALL (PHONE)
ARA – J. BUSHNELL (PHONE)
——————071748 090206Z /21
O 090006Z DEC 78
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN IMMEDIATE
UNCLAS STATE 310389
E.O. 12065 12065: N/A
TAGS: CASC, CGEN, OREP (RYAN, LEO), GY
SUBJECT: TAPES
1. In responding to any questions you may receive on this subject, you may answer that the Department of Justice has acknowledged that it has a tape that is believed to be a tape of the last hours in Jonestown. Since the tape may be pertinent to an investigation of the Department of Justice and/or of the Government of Guyana it would not be appropriate to comment further. We are referring any further questions to the Department of Justice and you should do likewise.
Newsom [David D. Newsom, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs]
UNCLASSIFIED