[Editor’s note: The State Department FOIA release of 1981 withheld a reference to an unnamed source. It is 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/1978PANAMA09105_d.html. This URL may be available through the Wayback Machine.]
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PANAMA 09105 141643Z
ACTION L-03
INFO OCT-01 ARA-11 ISO-00 SCS-06 CA-01 JUSE-00 TRSE-00 CG-00 DOTE-00 SY-05 DODE-00 CIAE-00 INR-10 NSAE-00 INRE-00 SSO-00 SPTA-02 /039 W
——————005415 141710Z /43
O 141555Z DEC 78
FM AMEMBASSY PANAMA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0199
INFO AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN
AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
LIMITED OFFICIAL USE PANAMA 09105
EO 12065: N/A
TAGS: CASC, OREP (RAYAN, LEO), GY
SUBJECT: CUSTODY OF VESSEL “ALBATROSS II”
REF: (A) GEORGETOWN 4066, (B) STATE 307131
1. REGISTRATION NUMBER CITED IN REFERENCE (A) IS REGISTRATION NUMBER FOR VESSEL ALBATROSS III NOT ALBATROSS II. ALBATROSS III IS OWNED BY ASOCIACION E.B. INTERNACTIONALE EMPRESA CARITATIVA, S.A., A PANAMANIAN CORPORATION INCORPORATED MAY 22, 1978. THE OFFICERS OF THE CORPORATION ARE LISTED AS FELIPE S. TAPIA, PRESIDENT; ELOY ALFARO DE ALBA, VICE PRESIDENT AND TREASURER; AND RODOLFO EVARISTO MENDOZA, SECRETARY. RECORDS INDICATE THE CORPORATION WAS STARTED WITH $10,000 OF CAPITAL. TAPIA AND ALFARO ARE MEMBERS OF THE WELL-KNOWN AND RESPECTED LOCAL LAW FIRM OF TAPIA, LINARES AND ALFARO, WHICH HAS A GENERAL CORPORATE AND SHIPPING PRACTICE AND APPEARS ON THE EMBASSY’S LIST OF ATTORNEYS. THEY ARE SERVING AS STRAWMEN FOR THE BENEFICIAL OWNERS OF THE VESSEL, A PRACTICE VERY WELL ESTABLISHED IN PANAMA.
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2. AN ASOCIACION E.B. INTERNACIONALE CORPORATE SOURCE WHO DECLINED TO BE IDENTIFIED HAS INFORMED EMBASSY THAT, ACCORDING TO NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS, THE PEOPLE WHO ORIGINALLY APPROACHED THE LAW FIRM IN CONNECTION WITH INCORPORATION ARE QUOTE NO LONGER AMONG THE LIVING UNQUOTE. THE SOURCE ALSO POINTED OUT A PORTION OF ARTICLE 14 OF THE COMPANY’S ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION WHICH DIRECTS THAT NET ASSETS OF THE CORPORATION BE GIVEN TO THE PEOPLES TEMPLE OR THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST UPON LIQUIDATION OF THE COMPANY. ALTHOUGH THE SOURCE WAS RELUCTANT TO MENTION SPECIFIC NAMES, HE SAID THAT THE COMPANY’S STOCKS WERE BEARER STOCKS AND, THUS, THE BENEFICIAL OWNERS WERE THOSE WITH THE STOCKS IN THEIR POSSESSION. THE SOURCE LEFT NO DOUBT THAT THE PT WAS IN FACT BEHIND THE COMPANY.
3. IN ADDITION, EMBASSY HAS LEARNED THAT THE ALBATROSS III WAS PREVIOUSLY REGISTERED IN THE BAHAMAS, AND THAT IT WAS PURCHASED FROM ONE LAL HAZARI (NFI), WHO IN TURN PURCHASED THE VESSEL FROM ALBATROSS LIMITED (NFI). SOURCE ALSO SAID THAT THE VESSEL’S PANAMANIAN REGISTRY WAS PROVISIONAL.
MOSS [Ambler H. Moss, Jr., U.S. Ambassador to Panama]
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