[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 several pages on this memo were not transcribed.]
G-1-f-3
NOVEMBER 3
SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE GEORGETOWN REPORTS
MEETING WITH THE SOVIETS (Oct 24th) [Fedor] TIMOFEYEV
– He stressed how bad the US dollar was, and that it was on the verge of devlautaion, only one point away. He said that US dollars don’t mean that much to them, but they don’t like to convert US dollars to ruples [rubles] if it means that sometime they would be changed back again. Since they do business mostly with socialist countries they have little use for US dollars.
– He said they are working on the question of our emigration [immigration] very hard up on the Politburo level and are getting a big headache trying to work it out. He said there is great concern fir [for] us and for the children and the seniors. He said the case of John [Victor Stoen] is not being considered in the same light as the other guardianship cases – so it looks like there has been some kind of response on that from Moscow or at least they are pushing strongly on it.
– he says he wonders why we allow so many visitors to come because it opens us up to having a CIA agent come. He said he thinks we should have guests that we invite to see the project once in a while but he doesnt see that it benefits us to have guests all the time as they give us a hard time anyway with all the questioning.
– he said the reason they are concerned about making changes in our info on money matt matters is that it is up to them at the Embassy to get messages right, and it is quite expensive to telex to Moscow. He had already got the answer back from the last telex, and asked him to recheck his info, since it seemed wrong (which it was). At least this indicates that we are being taken seriously and there is an attempt being made to work out the details.
[2 lines crossed out]
DORIS ROGERS
– she said [Guyana Deputy Prime Minister Ptolemy] Reid is highly impressed by J-T. She says she spoke to him a couple of weeks ago. He is a little disappointed that people in the area havent followed our example and hopes that Minister Durant could galvanize them into action. She said PT is particularly accepted in PNC party groups because of the contribution we make.
[Guyana Chief Justice Harold] BOLLERS
– HE SAID HIS COUSIN WHO IS NOW IN TOWN RAN INTO Marcie [Marceline Jones] at some function in SF
– He said that the stuff Grace did with John was very bad
– Claims he will talk to [Lionel] Luckhoo about making a motion to set the order aside.
BUNNY MANN [Laurence “Bonny” Mann, Guyana Amb. to the United States]
– HE SAID [Steven] Katsaris was intellectually and emotionally dishonest because Bunnie had gone to all kinds of trouble to get things arranged and help him but Katsaris had gone back and said nothing had been done for him, didnt even say thank you, but wrote him that he was more than ever convinced Maria was brainwashed.
G-1-f-4
Additions from Sharon Amos (visit to USSR)
– in regards to changing to Ruples – he said it could be done but they don’t like to do it in terms of sometime changing it back to dollars (but of course the money will continue to devaluate if kept in American dollars and he stressed how bad the US dollar was and that it was on the verge of devaluation – only 1 point away. So perhaps the thing to do would be to put it in American dollars and later push to have it changed to ruples. They only do business with socialist countries, no not only but primarily so, American dollars don’t mean that much to them – they do some business with US but not as much.
– regarding his interest in how we were making interest on our external account, he asked us to write down the information on how we were doing it/ first he thought Guyana was being prejudicial [two-word handwritten insert: “against them”] and then later he had to admit we had more savvy in terms of knowing how to invest our money and he thought and said “maybe you should tell us how to do it.” But then he seemed to feel that it would be too much trouble to have to walk to the bank, take out a draft and take it over to the savings account – he only would consider it if you could call and change the money over by phone.
– regarding immigration to the USSR, he used the rationale that they couldn’t accomodate all Africans that would like to come to the Soviet Union so it’s easier to make a policy of No plan to make exceptions – (this seems to be the way that the USSR operates – they don’t like to deal a lot with individual cases unless it’s special) – he made clear to us that John was a special case and they are not considering John in the light that they are of the other guardianship cases – so that was a good sign as it looks like they have some kind of response from Moscow on that or at least they are pushing strongly on it.
– I thought one reason why they were so interested in the Social Security is that CL [Carolyn Layton] mentioned that China was a prohibited country for social security but Russia is not [handwritten insert: “mentioned”] and anytime you mention China they perk up their ears – that might be something they’d like to test if we were there as he said he wasn’t sure there were US citizens now in the USSR who qualify for Social Security – so it is unfamiliar to him. [Handwritten addition: “He will check on it.”]
– regarding removing our savings, he was a little concerned and said we should read very carefully the Prime Minister’s speech on the need to have savings in this country (this is one of the IMF [International Monetary Fund] requirements) and just today at Bonnie Mann’s – Bonnie’s friend who is in the TUC union said that the TUC is considering a strike against the govt. because the National Insurance has raised the money that they are taking from workers to build savings and the TUC which usually supports the govt. strongly is going out on strike or may do so. So Fedor was concerned about how the govt would react to out [our] taking out a million dollars. We told him we had other money here and we didn’t think they would be affected but he asked for specifics [line scratched out, hand written insert: “not US dollars”] quite a few million – he asked [line X-ed out] He wanted to know how much we spent just this year. [Balance of line deleted] Maria said since the project began we’ve spent [line scratched out, hand written insert: “over $1,000,000 US.”]
– he wanted to know how often we had taken out large sums of money from our external account – this he asked both because he was worried how the govt would feel and also to find out how our interest was affected when he was still trying to figure out how we made interest. Maria told him that we had withdrawn money only 3 times this year to go abroad. He said “that much” – she said yes but we withdraw about once a month to transfer to the checking account. CL made the point that she didn’t think it would be noticed to transfer 1 million and that there have been no problems so far. He was concerned that there would be some
G-1-f-4a [Reverse side of G-1-f-4, not transcribed]
G-1-f-5a
Pg 2 (sharon Amos) report of USSR visit
SOME concern when the Guyanese bank found out that the cashier’s check had gone to a Soviet Bank– CL explained about our having dealings with england anyway, and that was the only reason why we were suggesting dealing with England so we can use that rationale with Guyana. [Handwritten addition: “Re: the purchase of a lot of equipment, etc.”]
G-1-f-5b [Reverse side of G-1-f-5a, not transcribed]