[Editor’s note: This document was released both as a State Department cable as part of its 1981 FOIA release, and as Serial 288 of the FBI’s RYMUR release.
[The State Department release withheld the first two paragraphs of this cable under the national security exemption. The deleted text is 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/1978PORTO03380_d.html.]
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PORT O 03380 242026Z
ACTION ARA-15
INFO OCT-01 ISO-00 SSO-00 NSCE-00 SY-05 SYE-00 FBIE-00
CIAE-00 INR-10 NSAE-00 INRE-00 DODE-00 L-03 /034 W
——————059274 242031Z /41
O 241944Z NOV 78
FM AMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC NIACT IMMEDIATE 3279
AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN IMMEDIATE
AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN NIACT IMMEDIATE
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BRIDGETOWN FOR AMBASSADOR FOX [Richard J. Fox, Jr., American Ambassador to Trinidad]
E. O. 11652: N/A
TAGS: CASC, OREP (RYAN, LEO), TD
SUBJECT: MEMBERS OF PEOPLES’ TEMPLE IN PORT OF SPAIN.
REFERENCE: PORT OF SPAIN 3371
1. GOTT [GOVERNMENT OF TOBAGO/TRINIDAD], AFTER CONSIDERABLE DITHERING AROUND, HAS FINALLY GIVEN ITS APPROVAL TO VISIT OF TWO FBI AGENTS TO INTERVIEW THOSE MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLES’ TEMPLE MOVEMENT WHO ARE IN TRINIDAD.
2. WE HAVE AGREED TO INFORM THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE OF THE AGENTS’ ETA. PLEASE ADVISE BY NIACT IMMEDIATE.
3. AS OF FEW HOURS AGO GROUP HAD NOT SETTLED UPON NEXT MOVES. EXPECTATION WAS THAT [PHILIP] BLAKEY AND ONE AS-OF-THEN UNDECIDED-UPON AMERICAN WOULD SAIL FOR BARBADOS THIS WEEKEND. WE SOFTLY QUESTIONED THE RATIONALE FOR CONTINUING THE VOYAGE, BUT THE GROUP FELT IT HAS SOME KIND OF OBLIGATION TO DO SO. IN ANY EVENT, PLAN REMAINED FOR THE OTHER TWO MEMBERS TO REMAIN HERE FOR THE TIME BEING. WE WILL INFORM
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YOU IF THEY REVISE THESE STILL HIGHLY TENTATIVE PLANS.
O’MAHONY [Joseph O’Mahony, Deputy Chief of Mission]
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