Serial 294

[Document labeled as from “outside source”]

[name deleted] San Francisco CA 94109 – 21 Nov 1978

JONESTOWN, GUYANA MASSACRE – Rev. Jones & his followers kept in state of a “high”, to weaken minds and obtain obedience, by “medical personnel.” The Ryan party was met at Jonestown by the commune’s concert band, and that evening a rehearsal of the “big December show now in rehearsal as part of Jonestown’s holiday celebration.” – Ron Javers new story from Jonestown printed in San Francisco Chronicle 18 Nov Saturday. The Congressman arrived Friday afternoon aboard chartered plane. The report ended: “Ryan sent out word he was in no hurry to leave.”

The “suicide” of the followers of Rev. Jones was due to concoction made by “medical personnel” of the commune, that included nurses. These persons may have made all the brews served in the suicide “rehearsals” alleged to be commonplace among them. After the Ryan party left with the defectors, Jones may have thought a suicide placebo would bring the commune together, soothe them, re-unite them after the “shock” of some members defecting. The persons who planned the murder of Repr. Ryan and the journalists, however, may have decided that the usefulness of the commune in exploiting the members and their associates/relatives, and its reputation, was at an end. The assassination of the Congressman, a temptation not to be resisted, would probably terminate goodwill toward the church, or the religion and its sponsors. Medical personnel, who may have also used narcotics or other chemicals to keep the congregation in a well-sustained “trip” and prevent adequate ideation, being “in” on the determination to wreck Jonestown, would then have made the concoction lethal, not the usual placebo, resulting in the massacre.

The attack upon the Congressman and his associates did not take place during the several miles ride to the airstrip at Port Kaituma, over rough, unpaved road in “heavy-duty” vehicles. It has a military castes, planned at the airstrip, was a shooting at the front tire of the “Guyana Airlines” aircraft (bimotor-propeller monoplane), not hurting the pilot, moving Diana persons to one side, before firing at the victims. The shotgun blast in the head/face of those who fell resembles a tactic sometimes threatened in US attacks upon persons. Airstrip [word illegible] perhaps religious/racist, seems like a terrorist act.