{"id":95723,"date":"2020-03-02T15:37:48","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T23:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=95723"},"modified":"2026-04-11T16:09:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T23:09:31","slug":"nov-23-78-%e2%80%a2-1641-%e2%80%a2-state-georgetown-%e2%80%a2-296714","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=95723","title":{"rendered":"SITREP 16 <br>Nov 23, 78 \u2022 1641 \u2022 State-Georgetown \u2022 296714"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>[<strong>Editor\u2019s notes:<\/strong> This document appears as <a href=\"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=79857\">Serial 78<\/a> in the FBI RYMUR release and as <a href=\"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=95723\">State Department cable 296714<\/a> in the State Department release.<\/p>\n<p>[The text for this document was released in 2014 by <a href=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/plusd\/cables\/1978STATE296714_d.html\">Wikileaks<\/a>. It is also available through the <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20260411230845\/https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/plusd\/cables\/1978STATE296714_d.html\">Internet Archive<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n<p>CONFIDENTIAL<br \/>\nPAGE 01<br \/>\nSTATE 296714<br \/>\nORIGIN ARA-15<br \/>\nINFO OCT-01 EUR-12 ISO-00 NEA-11 SSO-00 FBIE-00 CIAE-00<br \/>\nDODE-00 PA-01 TRSE-00 SCS-06 MCT-02 CA-01 INR-10<br \/>\nINRE-00 SY-05 SYE-00 USSS-00 H-01 AID-05 SS-15<br \/>\nL-03 NSCE-00 CCO-00 OC-06 JUSE-00 NSAE-00 ICAE-00<br \/>\nCG-00 DOTE-00 SVC-00 \/094 R<br \/>\nDRAFTED BY ARA:RBRUCE<br \/>\nAPPROVED BY ARA:JBUSHNELL<br \/>\nS\/S-O:RCASTRODALE<br \/>\n&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;040560 231707Z \/41<\/p>\n<p>O 231641Z NOV 78<br \/>\nFM SECSTATE WASHDC<br \/>\nTO AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN IMMEDIATE<br \/>\nAMEMBASSY PANAMA IMMEDIATE<br \/>\nAMEMBASSY CARACAS IMMEDIATE<br \/>\nAMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN IMMEDIATE<br \/>\nAMEMBASSY LONDON IMMEDIATE<br \/>\nAMEMBASSY PARAMARIBO IMMEDIATE<br \/>\nCINCSOUTHCOM QUARRY HTS CZ IMMEDIATE<br \/>\nCINCMAC SCOTT AFB IL IMMEDIATE<br \/>\nUSREDCOM\/RCJ2 MACDILL AFB FL IMMEDIATE<br \/>\nUSCINCARRED FT MCPHERSON GA IMMEDIATE<br \/>\nCDR 18TH AIRBORNE CORPS FT BRAGG NC IMMEDIATE<br \/>\nUSCINCEUR VAIHINGEN GE\/&#8217;2 IMMEDIATE<br \/>\nC O N F I D E N T I A L STATE 296714<br \/>\nLONDON FOR MICHAEL FINLEY<br \/>\nE.O. 11652: GDS<br \/>\nTAGS: CASC, OREP (RYAN, LEO), GY<br \/>\nSUBJECT: SITUATION REPORT NO. 16<\/p>\n<p>CONFIDENTIAL<br \/>\nCONFIDENTIAL<br \/>\nPAGE 02 STATE 296714<\/p>\n<p>REFERENCE: STATE 296525 AND PREVIOUS<\/p>\n<p>1. THE FIRST C-141 CARRYING THE REMAINS OF FORTY VICTIMS OF THE JONESTOWN TRAGEDY ARRIVED AT DOVER AIR FORCE BASE AT 0600 EST. THIRTY-SEVEN BODIES ARE UNIDENTIFIED; OF THE THREE OTHERS, ONE IS THAT OF THE REV. JONES&#8217; ADOPTED SON, JIMMY.<\/p>\n<p>2. REMOVAL OF DEAD FROM JONESTOWN TO GEORGETOWN BEGAN AGAIN THIS MORNING AT 0600 EST. THE NINE HELICOPTER SORTIES SCHEDULED FOR TODAY ARE EXPECTED TO BRING 162 BODIES TO GEORGETOWN. THE NEXT FLIGHT TO DOVER CARRYING EIGHTY BODIES IS SCHEDULED TO DEPART GEORGETOWN AT 1500 EST. THE COMMANDER OF THE US TASK FORCE IN GUYANA HAS INDICATED THE OPERATION WILL BE COMPLETED TOMORROW, NOVEMBER 24.<\/p>\n<p>3. ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY SEVEN TRANSFER CASES ARE IN GEORGETOWN; 138 MORE WILL ARRIVE TODAY. THE REMAINDER NEEDED WILL BE RETURNED FROM DOVER AND REUSED.<\/p>\n<p>4. NO FURTHER ATTEMPTS TO IDENTIFY BODIES ARE BEING MADE IN GUYANA. AN SCS REPRESENTATIVE AND AN FBI DISASTER SQUAD ARE IN DOVER TO AID MILITARY PERSONNEL IN THE IDENTIFICATION PROCESS. IN INSPECTING THE JONESTOWN SETTLEMENT, AN EMBASSY CONSULAR OFFICER COUNTED ONLY 600 SINGLE BEDS, AN INDICATION THAT EARLIER ESTIMATES OF A THOUSAND OR MORE RESIDENTS OF JONESTOWN WERE PROBABLY EXAGGERATED.<\/p>\n<p>5. THE EMBASSY REPORTS THAT SOME OF THE SURVIVORS IN GEORGETOWN ARE BEGINNING TO AGITATE FOR RETURN TO THE U.S. HOWEVER, GUYANESE AUTHORITIES APPARENTLY WILL NOT BE PREPARED TO PERMIT ANY DEPARTURES UNTIL TOMORROW, NOVEMBER 24 AT THE EARLIEST.<\/p>\n<p>CONFIDENTIAL<br \/>\nCONFIDENTIAL<br \/>\nPAGE 03 STATE 296714<\/p>\n<p>6. IT IS EXPECTED THE SURVIVORS WILL PROBABLY BE RELEASED IN TWO GROUPS. THE FIRST WILL BE COMPOSED OF 24 BEGIN QUOTE NON-PROBLEM END QUOTE REFUGEES PLUS SOME VERY ELDERLY MEMBERS OF THE SECOND GROUP. THIS SECOND GROUP IS MADE UP OF PEOPLES TEMPLE MEMBERS STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION BY THE GOG [GOVERNMENT OF GUYANA]. <\/p>\n<p>VANCE [Cyrus Vance, Secretary of State]<\/p>\n<p>CONFIDENTIAL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Editor\u2019s notes: This document appears as Serial 78 in the FBI RYMUR release and as State Department cable 296714 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 296714 ORIGIN ARA-15 INFO OCT-01 EUR-12 ISO-00 NEA-11 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":95378,"menu_order":168,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-95723","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95723","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=95723"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136147,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95723\/revisions\/136147"}],"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=95723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}