[Editor’s notes: The transcript of this document retains its original spellings, with corrections noted only where necessary for clarity.
[Likely in an effort to save paper, Temple members often used the reverse side of old documents. That is the case here, and the reverse sides of the pages on this memo were not transcribed.]
G-1-b-1a
Sharon Amos
USSR meeting with (Jimmy Jr and Sharon Amos) 20/10/78 [October 20, 1978]
– he returned the airplane tickets to me (without my even asking him)
– he said that Oct. 29 is the 60th Anniversary of the Komsolal (youth movement in Russia) – he said that they are having a program for Guyana Youth but its [it’s] just the executives but he did say that on Nov. 7th is the 61st Anniversary of the revolution and we would be invited to the reception they are giving (I wonder if they are trying to make up for not inviting us to these before – because last time I told him how nice the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] had been to us)
– he asked how many tickets I would want/ I said it would depend how many are in town at that time – but maybe about 4 –he’ll talk to me about it a couple of weeks before [Marginal note: “ask for 6”]
JIM’S MEDICINE: He said the mail takes time and they haven’t gotten any yet (said to be sure JJ is getting his rest and hasn’t stopped on his rest as that is very important permanently not just for a while
RUSSIAN SONGS: said he’d see if there are any records he has of Russian songs he could give us.
VIT E, VIT C AS treatment (Jt had asked me to check on this): Vit E in oil is used as treatment for burn. If it is a fresh burn (not for long term burns). Vit E in oil. Vit C can use a lot if you are taking antibiotics as antibiotics influence the blood composition (if there is long term usage of antibiotics)
– I mentioned how JJ made his feelings clear to people by getting on the radio and talking to the delegates from the Communist Party that had come to visit in SF. Fedor [Timofeyev] said that no delegates from the Communist Party had come to SF. He said that those in the Communist Party are pretty well prohibited from visiting in the US. I said that these people were deputys in the Communist party. He said I mean they must be Parliamentary deputies of the Supreme Soviet. These are not necessarily Communists, some are and some aren’t. You don’t have to be in the Communist Party to be in the Parliament – it’s not part of the Party Structure. He wondered if the next group that JJ had addressed – most recently were communist party members. I said I’d find out. (I couldn’t remember for sure if they were a cultural delegation and other govt. representatives or what) but the first delegation of 40 (who came when I was in SF) were deputies
– I said I didn’t realize you couldn’t travel to US if you were a communist because Dick McCoy had told me [Guyana opposition leader] Cheddi Jagan would just sign the declaration he was a communist and then travel. He said that he didn’t know about that as the PPP doesn’t call itself communist. They are Progressive but don’t feel they have achieved communist category yet but of course to the US, Cheddi might be a communist
BAND AND BASKETBALL TEAM: I asked about our basketball team coming as well as the band or if the band wasn’t wanted could the team come instead. He said that he hadn’t seen our basketball team but was it professional status in the US. I said they were excellent and Jimmy explained that 4 of them had been offerred scholarships on a sports basis. He said that they really wouldn’t need a amateur basketball team. He said in regards to our band, the standard of our orchestra is higher than the Guyanese so they would be in demand.
– I said would like to know on this as I understand they would have to travel before December. He said he is waiting on an answer but the visa wouldn’t take any time at all to arrange.
MONEY: I told about expediting this with the money order that Jean Brown had brought from our external account in Guyana to the US – that this would be about a million dollars and it wouldn’t involve all our money but this amount which would have to be right away so we wouldn’t lose money from the IMF [International Monetary Fund]. I told him that we had heard from many sources (business men) that know about such things that there could be a devaluation so we’d like the whole process to be completed by Jan 1but we preferred this to be done within a couple of weeks. He said that when he had communicated to USSR he told them we didn’t really need to transfer the money until May unless there was an emergency so he’ll now have to ask about this
– I asked him how this could be accomplished. Would someone have to go to England with the money or could they somehow send the money from the US. I told him that we had business dealings with England and there should be no problem and we had no problem getting the money out of Guyana
– he said “how did the people about the bank feel about it (from the bank with the external account). I didn’t know about this for sure but said “there was no problem”
– he asked in whose name the account would be. I said I’d check for sure but probably Rose Shelton[‘]s
– he said is a cashier’s check cashable only in the US or does it specify where it is cashable (Mary had told me that the check Jean Brown carried with her was a cashier’s check)
(over)
G-1-b-1b [Reverse side of G-1-b-1a, not transcribed]
G-1-b-1c
USSR pg 2
– he said if there is a banking representative of the USSR in NY or Washington you can have it transferred thru them and then Jean (or someone) would only have to travel there instead of to England – he’ll have to find out
– would it be a long term – fixed deposit or a short term account (where you draw frequently upon it but there is little or no interest) – he said the Russian account in Guyana is the latter. They draw frequently upon it and have no interest
– he will check and see how much interest it would draw (he did submit this as one of the questions after he had been to JT)
– he said this kind of question takes some time because it goes thru the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the USSR and then goes to the Ministry of Finance and then to the banks (but he will tell them to expedite it)
(BY THE WAY JIMMY WENT OUT DURING THE ISSUE OF MONEY AND EXODUS)
MESSAGE FROM THE STATES: told him about the man who got on the radio and said not to give us any more phone patches. This guy claiming we were being investigated by the State Department for being a subversive military operation/ etc. about how he’d be facing a suit (more but I’m summerizing this) [Handwritten marginal note: “There is a reciprocal agreement on phone patches”]
– he said how do you know this is part of the conspiracy/ maybe this is just hooliganism if this man doesn’t identify himself. I said I’m sure he would identify himself as that is a rule of the radio and I’m sure we have a number or can trace it down. First he asked if phone patches were legal anyway and I explained that they definitely were or else the other hams wouldn’t do it as they could lose their licenses and how we have regular equipment to do so and how all hams do it to help each other
– I told him how we are worried Guyana cant take this kind of pressure and now the National Enquirer is about to mount a new attack and won’t even tell us what they’re going to report but it’s new material. He said well, what makes you think Guyana can’t withstand it/ they’ve done so before. I told him that this is iffy for us as Guyana is a small country under a lot of pressure and now trying to get IMF money and we certainly can’t count on Guyana being able to withstand pressure of this sort. I again went over the fact that the conspiracy against us was very capable of causing a lot of disruption/ how TOS [Timothy Oliver Stoen] has an unlimited bank account
– he pooh poohed this saying “unlimited???” dubiously
– I said well I mean it keeps being replenished as we have had it checked out and TOS somehow manages to jet across to London and to Guyana and to call long distance all over the US and has no job
– I told him we’d like to expedite moving to the USSR becuase we could be attacked with guns and it would be too late to get help
– he said he’d see about this/ he said it wasn’t too recently that he submitted about us all going/ we had talked initially about children going and now he still was waiting for an answer but he thought when the delegation came here from the USSR they could answer most of our questions
– I said that might be too late
– he said he’d asked for an answer right away
– I asked how long it takes for an answer/ he said diplomatic pouch has to send some items. like they could mention over Telex that we wanted to have a delegation come to JT but he had to send a written invitation from us in the diplomatic pourch
– I asked if the diplomatic pouch goes every week and he said not so often
– I said every 2 weeks and he didn’t seem to like to give an answer/ he said “that is our problem” but not so often
– he said that it was only when he came out to JT that he really know about the attack on us (I mentioned the rocket morters) –
– I told him tho we had talked to him about the gunshots at JJ
IMF AND RUSSIAN AID TO GUYANA: I said it bothered me that every Guyanese I talked to thanks there is no alternative to the IMF and thinks that the USSR won’t help
– he said what makes you think so
– I said that even govt. officials I’ve talked to think there is no alternative
– he said he didn’t think the govt thought that
– I said yes I’ve talked to ministers who think that in the newspaper try to make it look that way even tho they made a weak retraction later
– he said which Minister
– I told him Minister [Robert] Corbin had been over for cocktails and hadn’t thought there was an alternative. (I told him this is confidential – but I did give the name as I thought it’s important for him to think once in awhile we have connections and I was name-dropping)
– he said “yes I know Minister Corbin well” (he said this as if you thought well of him or had talked to him quite a bit
– he said that he knows this just ABC’s that Guyana would lean to the US to get help from them and then lean toward USSR to get help from them (or vice versa he might have said that Guyana leaned to the USSR to get the US to help and leaned to the US to get help other places also
– he said that in getting to the IMF, the US has pushed other capitalist countries to help guyana so there will be $140 million dollars. he said USSR wouldn’t
G-1-b-1d [Reverse side of G-1-b-1c, not transcribed]
G-1-b-1e
USSR pg 3
just pour that kind of money in Guyana. Guyana would have to show they will help themself in moving towards socialism and then Russia would help more but it isn’t true they won’t help at all
– he said again on the Boxite [bauxite] that USSR didn’t want to deal with a middle man and pay money to the middleman that is capitalistic but wanted a good price and still be paying Guyana more but Guyana wouldn’t deal that way and insisted on the middleman getting a certain percentage from USSR and Guyana and the price was higher than USSR wanted to pay so tho USSR didn’t deal with Guyana for boxite it wasn’t that advantageous for the USSR
– in other words USSR were not to get something out of the venture too
VENEZUELA/GUYANA RELATIONS: I pointed to a Guyana Chronicle article about the Venezuela border and said that worried us and how the acclaim was given to the Venezuelan president
– I said that I heard that the next president might be worse
– he said that’s just talk, Fedor isn’t sure he’ll be worse
– he thinks the border incident wasn’t the major emphasis on the talks in Guyana but the hydroelectric power was and that the joint cooperation and use of the border
– I said yes but we don’t want to be in Venezuela/
– I kind of joked and said we’d not be dealing with you anymore but the Venezuelan Russian Embassy. He said he had some very good friends at that Embassy
– he said it’s hard to tell how Venezuela could go/ it could become more progressive
– he said in regards to this that PT tends to think every movement of the moon deals with PT (he laughed over this)
FILM (RUSSIAN ENGLISH) – he said he hasn’t found it yet/ none at the Embassy
– I asked if he could give us the synopsis which is an English translation but said I’d have to check and see if we could afford the copies xerox
– I said there are 38¢ a piece/ he said “I thought you had your own machine”
– I said yes/ without having your own machine they are 60¢ a copy
– he said he see if he could xerox it for us
RUSSIAN DELEGATION: I asked if I should feel [Minister of Home Affairs Vibert] Mingo out about the liklihood of their getting cleared to come into the interior and he said “I don’t think there will be a problem” (I guess since he and Nikolai were cleared he doesn’t think there is a problem)
[Next section bracketed, marginal note: “follow-up!”]
THINGS THAT HE WANTS
– still needs a write-up of the dances (Soul steppers) so that he can send this to Moscow (I have the tape but not this unless it was recorded (the description
– still needs a list of agricultural parts and medical supplies we want so we can talk to the commercial consul
61st Anniversary: he said he’d invite JJ to come to the celebration but he didnt know if JJ would be able to come to GT (should we send some congratulations like we did with the DPRK – if so can Dick Tropp write one up and send it in)
[Handwritten note at bottom of page]
Mitzi letter (From our Central [illegible word]) – not from JJ
Fedor – appreciate his humor – but to joke about Vez. USSR Embassy not humorous. If you cannot do a.t. for us just tell us. We like you but not jokes on Vez. USSR Embassy. We are not going to say what we are going to do. We won’t take up your time telling you what we will do. We were b. [born] in US – maybe we’ll die in US. Maybe in hist. persp. that is best. We were only worried about children and seniors.
G-1-b-1f [Reverse side of G-1-b-1e, not transcribed]