[Editor’s note: This document was released both as a State Department cable as part of its 1981 FOIA release, and as Serial 1535 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/1979GEORGE00030_e.html. This URL may be available through the Wayback Machine.]
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PAGE 01
GEORGE 00030 041237Z
ACTION ARA-15
INFO OCT-01 EUR-12 ISO-00 CIAE-00 DODE-00 PM-05 H-02 INR-10 L-03 NSAE-00 NSC-05 PA-02 SP-02 SS-15 ICA-20 SMS-01 TRSE-00 FBIE-00 JUSE-00 /093 W
——————069140 041256Z /42 P
R 041101Z JAN 79
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8641
INFO AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
UNCLAS GEORGETOWN 0030
E.O. 12065: NA
TAGS: SOPN, GY
SUBJ: MEDIA COVERAGE OF PEOPLE’S TEMPLE DELIVERY OF CASH TO SOVIET EMBASSY
REF: GEORGETOWN 4524 (NOTAL)
1. BOTH GOVERNMENT-OWNED DAILY NEWSPAPERS, THE EVENING “CITIZEN” AND THE MORNING “CHRONICLE,” CARRIED SHORT ARTICLES ON JAN 2 AND JAN 3, RESPECTIVELY, ON THE DELIVERY OF CASH, TAPES AND DOCUMENTS FROM THE PEOPLE’S TEMPLE TO THE SOVIET EMBASSY IN GEORGETOWN.
2. THE ARTICLES, QUOTING A “GUYANA GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL,” STATE THAT THE CASH CONSISTED OF G$87,000, AND TWO U.S. DOLLARS. THE CONTENTS OF THE DOCUMENTS AND TAPES WAS NOT FURTHER SPECIFIED. THE “CITIZEN” REPORTS THAT THE CASH AND OTHER MATERIAL WAS HANDED OVER TO THE GOVERNMENT OF GUYANA (GOG) FOREIGN MINISTRY BY THE SOVIETS ON DEC 8 AND, ACCORDING TO THE SOVIET EMBASSY, HAD BEEN DELIVERED TO THE EMBASSY ON NOV 18 BY AN UNNAMED FEMALE MEMBER OF THE TEMPLE.
3. THE GOVERNMENT-OWNED RADIO OF JAN 2 STATED THAT THE MATERIAL HAD BEEN DELIVERED TO THE FOREIGN MINISTRY ON
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PAGE 02 GEORGE 00030 041237Z
DEC 8 BY AN UNNAMED MEMBER OF THE PEOPLE’S TEMPLE WHO IS STILL IN GUYANA.
DWYER [Richard Dwyer, Deputy Chief of Mission, American Embassy, Georgetown]
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