{"id":95490,"date":"2020-03-01T16:47:22","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T00:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=95490"},"modified":"2026-04-07T15:36:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T22:36:04","slug":"nov-20-78-1837-state-georgetown-293999","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=95490","title":{"rendered":"Nov 20, 78 \u2022 1837 \u2022 State-Georgetown \u2022 293999"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Editor\u2019s notes<\/strong>: This document appears as Serials 19<\/a> and 465<\/a> in the FBI RYMUR release and as State Department cable 293999<\/a> in the State Department 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 293999
\nORIGIN ARA-15
\nINFO OCT-01 EUR-12 EA-10 NEA-11 ISO-00 SSO-00 NSCE-00
\nINRE-00 ICAE-00 SCS-06 CA-01 H-01 SY-05 FBIE-00
\nSYE-00 PA-01 TRSE-00 MCT-02 AID-05 OC-06 CCO-00
\nJUSE-00 CIAE-00 INR-10 NSAE-00 SVC-00 \/086 R
\nDRAFTED BY ARA:JGRIFFITH
\nAPPROVED BY ARA:JBUSHNELL
\nS\/S-O: T MARTIN
\n——————100103 201911Z \/64<\/p>\n

O 201837Z NOV 78
\nFM SECSTATE WASHDC
\nTO AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN IMMEDIATE
\nINFO AMEMBASSY 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
\nC O N F I D E N T I A L STATE 293999
\nLONDON FOR MICHAEL FINLEY, TOKYO FOR SENATOR HAYAKAWA
\nE.O. 11652: GDS
\nTAGS: CASC, OREP, GY
\nSUBJECT:SITUATION REPORT NO. VII
\nREF: STATE 293803 AND PREVIOUS<\/p>\n

1. THE GUYANESE CRISIS COMMITTEE HAS APPROVED OUR OFFER OF<\/p>\n

CONFIDENTIAL
\nCONFIDENTIAL
\nPAGE 02 STATE 293999<\/p>\n

MEDICAL EVACUATION AND GRAVE REGISTRATION UNITS, INCLUDING UP TO 12 HELICOPTERS. THE NATIONAL MILITARY COMMAND CENTER (NMCC) IS MOBILIZING THE UNITS. THE HELICOPTERS ARE EXPECTED TO ARRIVE EARLY NOVEMBER 21.<\/p>\n

2. OUR DCM [DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION] TO PANAMA, WHO IS HELPING AT GEORGETOWN, AND A CONSULAR OFFICER ARE FLYING TO JONESTOWN THIS MORNING WITH THREE PRESS REPRESENTATIVES AND GUYANESE OFFICIALS AND WILL MAKE AN INITIAL ASSESSMENT OF THE SITUATION THERE. THEY ARE EXPECTED TO REPORT THEIR FINDINGS THIS AFTERNOON. ANOTHER FLIGHT WILL BRING OUR PATHOLOGICAL AND POISONS EXPERTS TO JONESTOWN THIS AFTERNOON. AMBASSADOR [JOHN] BURKE ALSO NOW ADVISES THAT THE 4-MAN DOD COMMUNICATIONS TEAM WILL FLY UP TO JONESTOWN TODAY. THEY ARE EXPECTED TO BEGIN TRANSMISSIONS FROM JONESTOWN THIS AFTERNOON.<\/p>\n

3. THE AIR FORCE IS INVESTIGATING WHETHER THE MATTHEWS RIDGE AIR STRIP CAN TAKE AIRCRAFT AS LARGE AS C-130S SO THAT IT CAN BE USED AS A STAGING AREA FOR OPERATIONS IN JONESTOWN. THE AIR STRIP IS ABOUT 35 MILES AWAY FROM JONESTOWN, AND ITS USE WOULD CONSIDERABLY EASE SUPPLY PROBLEMS AND FACILITATE EVACUATION ACTIVITIES.<\/p>\n

4. THE GUYANESE GOVERNMENT HAS REQUESTED THE LOAN OF TWO OTTER OR SIMILAR AIRCRAFT. THE AMERICAN PEOPLES TEMPLE CRISIS HAS OVERTAXED GUYANA\u2019S DOMESTIC AIR TRANSPORT SYSTEM, WHICH IS CRITICAL FOR THE SUPPLY OF MANY ISOLATED GUYANESE COMMUNITIES. NMCC HAS NO OTTERS, BUT IS LOOKING INTO ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF RESPONDING TO THIS REQUEST.<\/p>\n

5. AMBASSADOR BURKE ADVISES THAT AUTOPSIES HAVE BEEN PERFORMED ON THE BODIES OF CONGRESSMAN RYAN AND THE FOUR OTHERS KILLED DURING THE ATTACK AT PORT KAITUMA AND THAT <\/p>\n

CONFIDENTIAL
\nCONFIDENTIAL
\nPAGE 03 STATE 293999<\/p>\n

THEY ARE READY FOR TRANSPORT BACK TO THE UNITED STATES. SCS IS COORDINATING THEIR MOVEMENT WITH THE NMCC. ALSO AMBASSADOR BURKE ADVISES THAT GUYANA WILL PROBABLY REQUIRE THAT AUTOPSIES BE DONE ONLY ON A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF THE DEAD AT JONESTOWN BEFORE AUTHORIZING THE RETURN OF THE BODIES TO THE UNITED STATES. <\/p>\n

VANCE [CYRUS VANCE, SECRETARY OF STATE]<\/p>\n

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

[Editor\u2019s notes: This document appears as Serials 19 and 465 in the FBI RYMUR release and as State Department cable 293999 in the State Department release. [The text for this document was released in 2014 by Wikileaks. It is also available through the Internet Archive.] CONFIDENTIAL PAGE 01 STATE 293999 ORIGIN ARA-15 INFO OCT-01 EUR-12 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":95378,"menu_order":47,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-95490","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95490","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=95490"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135930,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95490\/revisions\/135930"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}