[Editor’s note: This document was released both as a State Department cable as part of its 1981 FOIA release, and as Serial 13 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/1978GEORGE03778_d.html. This URL may be available through the Wayback Machine.]
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GEORGE 03778 191057Z
ACTION ARA-15
INFO OCT-01 ISO-00 H-01 SS-15 SY-05 INR-10 CA-01
MCT-02 SCS-06 PA-01 AID-05 SYE-00 CCO-00 SSO-00
NSCE-00 USSS-00 INRE-00 TRSE-00 DODE-00 CIAE-00
FBIE-00 SVC-00 /062 W
——————092409 191059Z /21
Z 191105Z NOV 78
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC FLASH 8065
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE GEORGETOWN 3778
E.O. 11652: NA
TAGS: CASC, OREP (RYAN, LEO) GY
SUBJ: CODEL RYAN: FIRST REPORTS FROM PORT KAITUMA
REF: 3774
1. Police Commissioner Lloyd Barker on instructions from the prime minister called ambassador 0715 local time (0520 EST) to inform him that police units had gotten to the airstrip at Port Kituma [Kaituma].
2. According to commissioner GOG [Government of Guyana] police on the scene confirmed the deaths of Congressman Leo Ryan; Mr. Robert Brown, NBC; Mr. Don Harris, NBC; plus one as yet unidentified photographer. Thre are also six wounded at the airstrip including DCM Dwyer [Deputy Chief of Mission Richard Dwyer]; Song [Steve Sung], NBC; Miss Jackie Speier (legal counsel to codel); plus two others as yet unidentified.
3. Commissioner Barker was informed that Medivac C-141 is due at Timehri Airport 1000 hours local (0800 EST). He was urged to provide information as soon as possible when wounded could be evacuated from
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GEORGE 03778 191057Z
Port Kaituma to Timehri Airport, Georgetown.
Burke [John Burke, U.S. Ambassador to Guyana]
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