[Editor’s note: This document was released both as a State Department cable as part of its 1981 FOIA release, and as Serial 854 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/1978GEORGE04107_d.html. This URL may be available through the Wayback Machine.]
UNCLASSIFIED
PAGE 01
GEORGE 04107 051352Z
ACTION ARA-15
INFO OCT-01 ISO-00 L-03 SSO-00 SCS-06 CA-01 SS-15 DODE-00 FBIE-00 JUSE-00 SY-05 H-02 CIAE-00 INR-10 NSAE-00 NSCE-00 INRE-00 SYE-00 /058 W
——————018131 051359Z /44
O 051328Z DEC 78
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8331
UNCLAS GEORGETOWN 4107
E.O. 11652: NA
TAGS: CGEN, CASC
SUBJ: RETENTION OF LOCAL COUNSEL
REF: STATE 296852
1. Embassy has retained Gorden Smith Gillette, a Georgetown solicitor, as local counsel in connection with questions concerning the disposition of people’s temple property in Guyana. Gillette has been a member of the bar for 27 years. He served as chief prosecutor and national ombudsman before re-entering private practice in 1970.
2. DCM [Deputy Chief of Mission] and L [Local] representative met with Gillette Dec 4 and described legal question upon which advice of local counsel was needed. He does not charge an hourly rate, and was unwilling to speculate regarding his fee because of the complicated nature of the problem. He has been informed of the embassy maximum authorization of $1,000.00 U.S.
Burke [John Burke, U.S. Ambassador to Guyana]
UNCLASSIFIED