[Editor’s note: The State Department FOIA release of 1981 withheld several names in this cable. They are denoted in red type.
[The text for this document was released in 2014 by the now-defunct Wikileaks website at https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1977GEORGE02265_c.html. This URL may be available through the Wayback Machine.]
UNCLASSIFIED
PAGE 01 GEORGE 02265 191411Z
ACTION SCSE-00
INFO OCT-01 ISO-00 /001 W
——————023585 191430Z /43
P 191335Z SEP 77
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5325
UNCLAS GEORGETOWN 2265
E.O. 11652: N/A
TAGS: CASC, GY (JOHNSON, BERDA)
SUBJECT: W/W BERDA JOHNSON
REF: (A) STATE 219323 (B) GEORGETOWN 2087
1. POST HAS CONFIRMED THROUGH GUYANESE IMMIGRATION SERVICE THAT BERDA JOHNSON IS PRESENTLY IN GUYANA RESIDING AT THE PEOPLE’S TEMPLE AGRICULTURAL COMMUNITY AT JONESTOWN, NORTH WEST DISTRICT. REPRESENATIVES OF PEOPLE’S TEMPLE INFORMED CONSUL THAT MRS. JOHNSON IS WELL AND HAPPY. MESSAGE WAS PASSED TO MRS. JOHNSON OF DAUGHTER’S CONCERN. REPRESENTATIVES STATED THAT MRS. JOHNSON WOULD WRITE HER DAUGHTER DESCRIBING HER LIFE AND ACTIVITIES.
2. IN VIEW OF CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING PEOPLE’S TEMPLE IN THE U.S. EMBASSY WOULD APPRECIATE DEPARTMENT PASSING ON ABOVE MESSAGE TO MRS. BAXTER. IF SHE IS STILL CONCERNED ABOUT MOTHER’S WELL BEING THEN CONSUL WILL PLAN A VISIT WITHIN NEXT TEN-FOURTEEN DAYS FOR PRIVATE PERSONAL CONTACT. DEPARTMENT SHOULD DRAW ON REFTEL B TO DESCRIBE CONDITIONS OF AGRICULTURAL COMMUNITY.
BLACKEN [John Blacken, Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission]
UNCLASSIFIED
NNN