[Editor’s note: This document was released both as a State Department cable as part of its 1981 FOIA release, and as Serial 31 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/1978GEORGE03792_d.html. This URL may be available through the Wayback Machine.]
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PAGE 01 GEORGE 03792 200427Z
ACTION SCS-06
INFO OCT-01 ARA-11 ISO-00 CIAE-00 DODE-00 NSAE-00 NSCE-00 SSO-00 ICAE-00 INRE-00 CA-01 FBIE-00 PA-01 TRSE-00 MCT-02 SY-05 SYE-00 USSS-00 H-01 AID-05 SS-15 CCO-00 OC-06 JUSE-00 /054 W
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Z 200355Z NOV 78
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC FLASH 8079
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE GEORGETOWN 3792
E.O. 11652: NA
TAGS: CASC, ORP (RYAN, LEO) GY
SUBJ: CODEL RYAN: FIRST CASULTY REPORT FROM JONESTOWN
1. FORMIN JACKSON [Guyana Foreign Minister Rashleigh Jackson] INFORMED AMBASSADOR 0030 NOV 20 THAT INITIAL REPORT FROM GDF [Guyana Defense Force] FORCES ENTERING JONESTOWN IS THAT THERE ARE AT LEAST TWO TO THREE HUNDRED BODIES. NO FURTHER DETAILS AS YET. FORMIN ASKED THAT PRESS RELEASE BE WITHHELD UNTIL MORE SPECIFIC DETAILS KNOWN AND COORDINATED RELEASE CAN BE MAKE.
BURKE [John Burke, U.S. Ambassador to Guyana]
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