[Editor’s note: This document was released both as a State Department cable as part of its 1981 FOIA release, and as Serial 1323 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/1978PANAMA09286_d.html. This URL may be available through the Wayback Machine.]
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PANAMA 09286 202110Z
ACTION JUSE-00
INFO OCT-01 ARA-11 ISO-00 L-03 SCS-06 CA-01 H-01
SSO-00 FBIE-00 TRSE-00 SS-15 EUR-12 /050 W
——————081071 202117Z /15
O 202105Z DEC 78
FM AMEMBASSY PANAMA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0293
INFO AMEMBASSY BERN
AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
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DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, JIM HERGIN
EO 12065: N/A
TAGS: CASC, OREP (RYAN, LEO), GY, PN
SUBJECT: PEOPLES TEMPLE BANK ACCOUNTS
REF: STATE 319415
1. LETTERS DELIVERED TO UNION BANK OF SWITZERLAND AND SWISS BANK CORPORATION, PER REFTEL. SWISS BANK CORPORATION OFFICER NOTED THAT BANK “CANNOT OFFICIALLY CONFIRM ANYTHING” AND CANNOT ACCEPT INSTRUCTIONS FROM ANY PARTY NOT NAMED IN ACCOUNT.
2. IF AVAILABLE, EMBASSY WOULD APPRECIATE CERTIFIED COPIES OF DEATH CERTIFICATES OF PERSONS NAMED AS HOLDERS OF PEOPLES TEMPLE ACCOUNTS IN SWISS BANKS IN PANAMA. IF CERTIFIED COPIES OF DEATH CERTIFICATES NOT OBTAINABLE, WOULD APPRECIATE BEST AVAILABLE EVIDENCE OF DEATH.
3. EMBASSY IS DEVELOPING RECOMMENDATIONS ON LOCAL
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COUNSEL FOR REVIEW WITH [JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL JIM] HERGIN WHEN HE IS ABLE TO VISIT PANAMA.
MOSS [Ambler H. Moss, Jr., U.S. Ambassador to Panama]
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