[Editor’s note: The text for this document was released in 2014 by the now-defunct Wikileaks website at https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1978GEORGE04505_d.html. This URL may be available through the Wayback Machine.]
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PAGE 01
GEORGE 04505 301002Z
ACTION ARA-15
INFO OCT-01 ISO-00 CIAE-00 DODE-00 PM-05 H-02 INR-10 L-03 NSAE-00 NSC-05 PA-02 SP-02 SS-15 ICA-20 /080 W
——————045249 301128Z /10
R 291642Z DEC 78
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 8602
UNCLAS GEORGETOWN 4505
E.O. 12065: NA
TAGS: SOPN, GY
SUBJ: GOG-CONTROLLED MEDIA TAKE EXCEPTION TO “WASHINGTON POST” JONESTOWN STORY
REF: USINFO 3581815
1. THE GOVERNMENT-OWNED RADIO STATION AND THE “CHRONICLE” OF DECEMBER 29 HAVE PROMINENTLY LABLED [LABELED] A CHARLES KRAUSE “WASHINGTON POST” STORY OF DECEMBER 24 AS “DISTORTED.” THE KRAUSE STORY STATED THAT THE WIFE OF PRIME MINISTER BURNHAM AND DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER PTOLEMY REID “PERSONALLY” BROUGHT BACK OVER US$1 MILLION IN CURRENCY, GOLD AND JEWELRY FROM JONESTOWN TO GEORGETOWN ON NOVEMBER 20 AND THE FEW PEOPLE KNOW WHERE THE FORTUNE IS NOW “ALTHOUGH … POLICE ASSURE FOREIGNERS WHO ASK THAT THE FORTUNE IS STILL INTACT.”
2. ACCORDING TO THE “CHRONICLE,” THE KRAUSE STORY “PROVIDES A GRAPHIC EXAMPLE OF THE DISTORTION THAT FREQUENTLY OCCURS WHEN POWERFUL MEMBERS OF THE MASS MEDIA SEEK TO REPORT EVENTS WHICH AFFECT SMALL THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES LIKE GUYANA.” THE “CHRONICLE” REPORTS THAT THE FACTS ARE THAT TWO SENIOR POLICE OFFICERS BROUGHT BACK TO GEORGETOWN ON NOVEMBER 20 ABOUT US$500,000 IN CURRENCY AND JEWELRY, AND THAT MRS. BURNHAM AND THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER WERE TRAVELING ON THE
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SAME AIRCRAFT; KRAUSE’S CONTENTION THAT FEW PEOPLE CURRENTLY KNOW THE WHEREABOUTS OF THE FUNDS IN NOT TRUE AS, AT THE INQUEST WHICH KRAUSE ATTENDED FEFORE HIS STORY APPEARED, THE POLICE HAD TESTIFIED THAT THE MONEY AND JEWELRY WERE IN POLICE CUSTODY; AND THAT MR. KARUSE HIMSELF HAD CHECKED WITH ASSISTANT POLICE COMMISSIONER ROBERTS “BEFORE HE FILED THE STORY” AND WAS “TOLD UNEQUIVOCALLY THAT IT WAS THE POLICE THEMSELVES WHO TRANSPORTED THE MONEY” TO GEORGETOWN.
3. THE “CHRONICLE” CONCLUDES THAT “‘THE WASHINGTON POST’ OR MR. KARUSE OWES THE GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE OF GUYANA AN APOLOGY AND A RETRACTION.”
DWYER [Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Richard Dwyer]
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