On Onestow ?W4,3/4..• •-Efv,I.O
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
on onestow ?W4,3/4..• •-efv,i.o. 1, ; By red Parbash4 " 3116'Sinkie Moat ininOrtant substan- ued, the State Department l`a l tt Washington'Post Stiff Writer tNe the rePOrt saidtoccurred nored" a petition from a Peoidet The State Department was so precc-, last June,-:':filiPkii0Othir''' -hefore the pie defector, Timothy.Stoen,In whieh; cupied with bureaucratic niceties and Jonestowntragedy.'After.receiving re- /la, too, spoke" heated allegations concerning concen- of .pcSaftb10 -iU,U4E legalistic constraints that it was virtu- tide. "I wish there were some way - ally blind to warnings of imminent tration camp type condition and mass convince you that the Situation: in Suicide threats at. Jonestown, the U.S. danger at Jonestcnvn last year, accord- Jonestown is desperate," Stoen, wrote.. ing to a study 'commissioned by Secre- ambassador 'in Guyana cabled Wash- There exists "a threat so chilling as to : tary of State Cyrus B. Vince.- ington -June for authorization to seek Guyanese intervention:. be incomirehensibie to the 'average:: The study found that some of the decent person. • But the cable was so cautious and most prized diplomatic attributes-- List Nova 18, Peoples Temple mem- caution, circumspection and tact--ulti,- so couched„ in legalese that "its in- bers murdered visiting. Rep. Leo Ryan . nudely emasculated what' fete efforts tended import was obscured." The re- (D-Calif.) and four=dtherk‘acchnitiany:':e were made to intervene at the Peoples quest was rejected with a "simplistic reply" from Washington, the report ing him on a Jonestown inspection..• Temple commune in Guyana before More than 900 Temple followers then the murders and mass suicide there said., last November. A month earlier, the report contin. See JONNSTOWN, A32, 'Col. 1 irstioy,4iioy 4,1Y 9 Tilt WASHINGTON POST ' .101V4EiTOWN,Iirraolil, e State Department and the wanted to °tread ca oualY :died—most by consuming a cyanide U.S. embassy in Guyana. had ' been '!they vzeretealing with two conipetinc sigrouPs of Ann:dean citizens,' *We :poison mixture administered at the or showered with complaints from Peo- ples Temple members and relatives 'which:had enlisted Prominent PeoPle,, :dare of the Rev. Jim Jones, the Temple including lPuh114 ;.:their :leader, about conditions at JonestOon the cause: TheiPeoPlee 'Towle al one hand, 'and equally strenuous high-level Mends in the Guyana : The State Department study was charges on the other hand, pi Temple .prepared by two retired senior For. leaders and Temple lewter 'Verffy :sign Service officers, John Hugh Lane , opt. .harassment directed, at the rrinimins and 'StanleY S. 'carpenter. Temple., - - *Oder the tra. , 'Because of the department's failure, By May 1978, officials bullhead notifYlonee m advent:e'er iespecitio verified reports of people held in trips and of the names of Jonestown they recommended that the depart- bondage, arms smuggling into ,Jones. residents to be hitervietied. ment "undertake urgently a thorough town, threats of mass suicide, a drug- • Restrictions on U.S.:, stnireillance --high-level review" of the govern. ged appearance of Jonestown . resi- ,of; Americans_ovenmes Oratemted the meat's abilities to cope with problems dents and the mental instability of use of standard -Americans may have abroad. Jones himself. - „MethOds: to The report tracks State Department• Numerous.. !gegndrold handling of Jonestown from the, time- seemed to ,take-P•er:and limit edee?i -emigration first began, largely from parte:text's flexibility, the report sant" which often allows inaltectiostor :California, to the day of the tragedy. Among them: , confidential government dommlealts. During, the year preceding the kill. • Consular officials in' Guyana Induced officials to be eirannspeet In UT, .