[Editor’s note: The State Department FOIA release of 1981 made several deletions in 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/1978GEORGE02924_d.html. This URL may be available through the Wayback Machine.]
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PAGE 01
GEORGE 02924 121900Z
ACTION SCS-06
INFO OCT-01 ARA-15 ISO-00 CCO-00 PASO-00 /022 W
——————093051 140239Z /75
R 121840Z SEP 78
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 7599
UNCLAS GEORGETOWN 2924
E.O. 11652: N/A
TAGS: CASC, GY (EDWARDS,JAMES & IRENE)
SUBJECT: FALSE REPORT OF DEATH: JAMES & IRENE EDWARDS
REF: STATE 229400
TO CALVIN JOHNSON
401 RALSTON STREET
SAN FRANCISCO CALIFORNIA 94132
1. THE GEORGETOWN CITY OFFICE OF THE PEOPLE’S TEMPLE ORGANIZATION HAS INFORMED ME THAT YOUR UNCLE, JAMES EDWARDS AND YOUR AUNT, IRENE, ARE NOT REPEAT NOT DECEASED.
2. WHILE THE DISTANCE BETWEEN GEORGETOWN AND THE AGRICULTURAL PROJECT AT JONESTOWN PROHIBITS ME FROM CONFIRMING THIS AT THIS TIME, I WILL SEEK OUT MR. AND MRS. EDWARDS ON MY NEXT VISIT TO JONESTOWN AND GIVE YOU A PROMPT REPORT.
AMERICAN EMBASSY
GEORGETOWN, GUYANA
BURKE [U.S. Ambassador John Burke]
NOTE BY OCT: PASSED ABOVE ADDRESSEE.
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