{"id":79782,"date":"2018-05-16T16:00:47","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T23:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=79782"},"modified":"2026-04-22T15:06:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:06:59","slug":"serial-47","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=79782","title":{"rendered":"Serial 47 \u2022 SITREP X"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong> This document was released both as a State Department cable<\/a><\/u> as part of its 1981 FOIA release, and as Serial 47<\/a><\/u> and Serial 468<\/a><\/u> of the FBI\u2019s RYMUR release. <\/p>\n

[The text for this document was released in 2014 by Wikileaks<\/a>. It is also available through the Internet Archive<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n

CONFIDENTIAL
\nPAGE 01
\nSTATE 294561
\nORIGIN ARA-15
\nINFO OCT-01 EUR-12 EA-10 NEA-11 ISO-00 SSO-00 DODE-00 FBIE-00 CA-01 ICAE-00 H-01 PA-01 SS-15 NSCE-00 CIAE-00 INR-10 NSAE-00 TRSE-00 SCS-06 MCT-02 INRE-00 SY-05 SYE-00 USSS-00 AID-05 CCO-00 OC-06 JUSE-00 SVC-00 CG-00 DOTE-00 L-03 \/104 R
\nDRAFTED BY ARA:RBRUCE
\nAPPROVED BY ARA:JBUSHNELL
\nS\/S-O:TGMARTIN
\n——————119697 211415Z \/40<\/p>\n

O 211343Z NOV 78
\nFM SECSTATE WASHDC
\nTO AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN IMMEDIATE
\nAMEMBASSY PANAMA IMMEDIATE
\nAMEMBASSY CARACAS IMMEDIATE
\nAMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN IMMEDIATE
\nAMEMBASSY LONDON IMMEDIATE
\nAMEMBASSY PARAMARIBO IMMEDIATE
\nAMEMBASSY KUWAIT IMMEDIATE
\nAMEMBASSY ABU DHABI IMMEDIATE
\nAMEMBASSY TEHRAN IMMEDIATE
\nAMEMBASSY TOKYO IMMEDIATE
\nCINCSOUTHCOM QUARRY HTD CANAL ZONE
\nCINCMAC SCOTT AFB ILL
\nUS REDCOM\/RCJ2 MACDILL AFB FLA
\nUSCINCARRED FT. MCPHERSON GA
\nCDR 18TH AIRBORNE CORPS FT. BRAGG NC
\nC O N F I D E N T I A L STATE 294561
\nLONDON FOR MICHAEL FINLEY, TOKYO FOR SENATOR HAYAKAWA
\nE.O. 11652: GDS
\nTAGS: CASC, OREP (RYAN, LEO), GY<\/p>\n

CONFIDENTIAL
\nCONFIDENTIAL
\nPAGE 02
\nSTATE 294561<\/p>\n

SUBJECT: SITUATION REPORT NO. X
\nREFERENCE: STATE 294531 AND PREVIOUS<\/p>\n

1. We are awaiting Embassy views on our suggestion that the victims of the Jonestown tragedy be buried at Jonestown, given the long time of the bodies in open air and the fact that we won’t have significant helicopter lift capacity until Wednesday. Ambassador [John] Burke is currently consulting with the Guyanese authorities on this situation. Meanwhile the airlift of helicopters and supplies into Georgetown begins this morning with the arrival of three aircraft carrying support equipment and two unassembled helicopters. Local burial will not significantly reduce the need for U.S. equipment and personnel needed to carry out search and rescue operations in cooperation with Guyanese authorities. Three HH-53 helicopters are scheduled to arrive in Georgetown tomorrow morning as well as four additional light helicopters.<\/p>\n

2. Six FBI agents, Jim Ward (SCA) and Fred Shaver (ICA) are scheduled to depart MacDill AFB at 11:55 am today. The agents will join a legal attache from Caracas who arrived yesterday.<\/p>\n

3. The Embassy is looking into the possibility that the otter damaged in the ambush at Port Kaituma can be repaired if parts were to be flown in by our military task force.<\/p>\n

4. The press pool which visited Jonestown yesterday has begun to file detailed stories. The pool was made up of Charles Krause and Frank Johnson of the Washington Post, Mohamed Hamaludin of Reuters\/CANA and a Guyanese photo[-]<\/p>\n

CONFIDENTIAL
\nCONFIDENTIAL
\nPAGE 03 STATE 294561<\/p>\n

grapher.<\/p>\n

Vance [Cyrus Vance, Secretary of State]<\/p>\n

CONFIDENTIAL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Editor\u2019s note: This document was released both as a State Department cable as part of its 1981 FOIA release, and as Serial 47 and Serial 468 of the FBI\u2019s RYMUR release. [The text for this document was released in 2014 by Wikileaks. It is also available through the Internet Archive.] CONFIDENTIAL PAGE 01 STATE 294561 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":69686,"menu_order":51,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-79782","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/79782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79782"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/79782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136985,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/79782\/revisions\/136985"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/69686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}