[Editor’s note: The State Department FOIA release of 1981 withheld several names from this cable. They are denoted below in red type.
[The text for this document was released in 2014 by the now-defunct Wikileaks website at https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1978GEORGE00034_d.html. This URL may be available through the Wayback Machine.]
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PAGE 01
GEORGE 00034 041718Z
ACTION PPTE-00
INFO OCT-01 ARA-14 ISO-00 SCS-06 CA-01 /022 W
——————067798 041720Z /43
P 041655Z JAN 78
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5957
UNCLAS GEORGETOWN 0034
ATTENTION: CA/SCS/WW AND PT/LS
E.O. 11652: N/A
TAGS: CASC (GRIFFITH FAMILY)
SUBJECT: W/W GRIFFITH FAMILY
REF: 77 STATE 309694
1. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS REPORTED PER REFTEL. EMBASSY DOES NOT KNOW WHETHER MRS. CARNELLA GRIFFITH WOULD BE PERMITTED TO VISIT JONESTOWN IF SHE TRAVELLED TO GUYANA. OTHER RELATIVES OF PEOPLES TEMPLE MEMBERS WHO HAVE RECENTLY VISITED GUYANA WERE NOT PERMITTED TO ENTER THE AGRICULTURAL COMMUNITY BY THE PEOPLES TEMPLE. THE REASON GIVEN FOR THIS REFUSAL WAS THAT THE RELATIVES WERE PART OF A CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE PEOPLES TEMPLE. ON THE OTHER HAND, PEOPLES TEMPLE REPRESENTATIVES HAVE TOLD US THAT RELATIVES ARE WELCOME TO VISIT PROVIDED THAT THEY ARE NOT A PART OF THE ANTI-PEOPLES TEMPLE “CONSPIRACY”.
2. DOES MRS. CARNELLA GRIFFITH DESIRE FOR EMBASSY TO MAKE INQUIRY WITH PEOPLES TEMPLE REPRESENTATIVES CONCERNING WHETHER SHE WOULD BE ALLOWED TO VISIT JONESTOWN?
3. MARY AND DANA GRIFFITH ARE NOT REGISTERED AT POST. CONSUL SAW MARY AND EMMITT GRIFFITH’S PASSPORTS BUT DID NOT NOTE PASSPORT DATA. FINAL REPORT OF DEATH ON
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EMMITT GRIFFITH IS PENDING RECEIPT OF OFFICIAL GOG REPORT OF DEATH.
4. CONSUL PLANS TO VISIT JONESTOWN JANUARY 11. AT THAT TIME HE WILL CONTACT MARY GRIFFITH REGARDING HER GRANDDAUGHTER’S RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES AND ALSO GET PERTINENT PASSPORT DATA ON DANA GRIFFITH.
BLACKEN [Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission John Blacken]
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