[Editor’s note: This document was released both as a State Department cable as part of its 1981 FOIA release, and as Serial 1208 of the FBI’s RYMUR release.]
0 141815Z DEC 78
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8460
UNCLAS GEORGETOWN 4282
E.O. 12065: NA
TAGS: CASC, OREP (RYAN, LEO), GY
SUBJECT: TRAVEL BY SECRET SERVICE AGENTS TO GEORGETOWN.
REF: GEORGETOWN 4226 AND PREVIOUS.
DURING CONVERSATION DECEMBER 4 AMBASSADOR RAISED AGAIN WITH FOREIGN MINISTER REASHLEIGH [RASLEIGH] JACKSON THE OUTSTANDING REQUEST THAT SECRET SERVICE AGENTS BE PERMITTED TO COME TO GEORGETOWN TO INTERVIEW FIVE SURVIVORS OF THE PEOPLES TEMPLE. MINISTER JACKSON (WHO HAS TAKEN OVER AS CHAIRMAN OF THE GOG CABINET-LEVEL JONESTOWN TASK FORCE IN THE TEMPORARY ABSENCE OF MINISTER HAMILTON GREEN) SAID THAT THE REQUEST WAS STILL “UNDER CONSIDERATION”. HE HAS BEEN TOLD BY THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND THE POLICE THAT THEY EXPECT TO HAVE A LIST WITHIN A DAY OR SO OF THOSE INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE NO LONGER NEEDED AS MATERIAL WITNESSES. IF THE THREE INDIVIDUALS ON THE USSS LIST STILL AT LIBERTY, NAMELY THE CARTERS AND MIKE PROKES, ARE NO LONGER NEEDED BY GUYANESE AUTHORITIES, PRESUMABLY THEY WILL BE TRAVELING TO THE U.S. IF THAT IS THE CASE, THE GOVERNMENT OF GUYANA WOULD PREFER THAT WILL INTERVIEWS WITH THEM TAKE PLACE THERE AND NOT IN GUYANA. REGARDING [CHUCK] BEIKMAN AND [LARRY] LAYTON, THE REMAINING TWO NAMES ON THE USSS LIST, THE ATTORNEY GENERAL HAS THE QUESTION OF THEIR INTERROGATION BY THE SECRET
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
PAGE 02 GEORGE 04282 141833Z
SERVICE UNDER STUDY TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT SUCH INTERVIEWS MIGHT PREJUDICE IN ANY WAY THE GOVERNMENT’S CASES AGAINST THEM. IF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL DETERMINES THAT THEIR INTERROGATION WOULD HAVE NO EFFECT ON THE CASES, PRESUMABLY THE SECRET SERVICE WOULD BE GIVEN PERMISSION TO COME IN AND QUESTION THEM.
BURKE [John Burke, American ambassador to Guyana]