The death of religious fanatics in America. Secrets of the Past: The Jonestown Massacre. Jonestown massacre

On November 20, 1978, the world was shocked by the Jonestown massacre. From November 18 to 19 in this colony on the territory of Guyana ( South America) 918 US citizens were shot, stabbed and poisoned. However, even now few people know that in fact these people were no longer Americans. De facto, those killed were citizens of the USSR.

Without mentioning that all the facts pointed to murder, the major US media (New York Times, Associated Press, etc.) immediately called the tragedy a “mass suicide.” The official version of the tragedy, set out in the American and then world media, is well known.

According to it, a certain Jim Jones declared his prophetic ability to heal and promoted himself to Jesus. This attracted many members to the Peoples Temple community he organized. Any dissent here was suppressed. Anyone who joined the Peoples Temple could not voluntarily leave it. Renegades were punishable by death and damnation. Being totalitarian, the community needed self-isolation, an Iron Curtain.

This was the reason for the emigration of the Peoples Temple to Guyana. The Jonestown colony was founded there - the city of Jones. The colony had a system of subordination. At the foot were the ordinary members of the community, above them stood the “Temple Planning Commission” - followers of Jones, noted for their merits. Even higher were the “12 angels”. Jim Jones himself crowned the pyramid. He had a "personal guard", a "death squad" and a "order service".

Jones's cult flourished, but then his mind began to cloud. At this moment, Congressman Leo Ryan arrives in Guyana with a group of journalists to see on the spot how the rights of American citizens are ensured in the colony. During the visit, he reveals the savage motive, tries to escape and take out a group of colonists, but Jones gives chase, which shoots both the fugitives and the congressman. Jones then orders all the cultists to end their lives. Those who did not want to die were killed. The American army and the CIA tried to save the sectarians, but arrived too late.

This story was offered to the world as an explanation for the shocking footage, where hundreds of corpses of men, women and children lay among tropical vegetation.

How they were killed. On November 7, 1978, a reception was held at the Soviet Embassy in Guyana in honor of the anniversary of the October Revolution. Among the 300 guests were six people from the Peoples Temple. Their presence caused excitement among American diplomats. The reason for the concern is the intention of the leadership of the Peoples Temple to move the entire community to the USSR.

Four days later, Temple functionary Sharon Amos arrived at the Soviet embassy while in strong excitement, and announced the imminent visit of American Congressman Leo Ryan to them. Trouble was expected from his visit to Jonestown. She inquired whether their request for resettlement in the USSR had been sent to Moscow, and received assurances that everything had been sent immediately. Consul Fyodor Timofeev handed her forms for visas and applications for Soviet citizenship. Sharon left reassured.

On November 17, during her next visit to the Soviet embassy, ​​Sharon was glad that the first day of Ryan's visit to Jonestown had gone very well. The congressman said that he had never seen happier people than here in the jungles of Guyana. Sharon also told the Russians that a group of journalists and relatives - 18 people in total - had arrived with Ryan. However, besides them, on the same day, about 60 tourists from the United States, all men, arrived in Guyana. They stayed at the Park and Tower hotels and rented airplanes for their purposes.

The CIA agents and the “group of tourists” introduced into the “Temple” became the first echelon in the act of eliminating people who applied for Soviet citizenship. The first organized a series of provocations and ensured the actions of armed agents. The latter were directly involved in liquidation.

On November 18, Congressman Ryan and journalists arrived at Port Kaituma Airport to fly to the United States, where the following happened: “A truck and a flatbed tractor were crossing the runway. Meanwhile, three unknown persons were approaching the planes. Bob Brown and Steve Sang aimed their cameras. And suddenly the shooting started. There were screams."

According to Charles Krause (Washington Post journalist), one of the few surviving witnesses, it went like this: “I ran around the plane, passed the NBC crew, and hid behind the wheel. Someone fell on me and rolled off. I realized that I was wounded. Another body fell on me and rolled off. I lay helpless, waiting to be shot in the back. The shooters did their job well, finishing off the wounded at point-blank range. How I got past death, I will never understand.”

According to Soviet embassy officials, on the evening of November 18, at the height of the tragedy, the Jonestown radio station broadcast its program using a code recorded for the first time. It is unknown what key the encryptor used and to whom the messages were addressed.

Four hours before Congressman Ryan and reporters left Jonestown, a plane rented by American “tourists” took off from Georgetown, ostensibly to inspect Port Kaituma. According to local residents, about two dozen young men got off the plane and went to explore the surroundings. Obviously, some of these people took part in the attack on the congressman. Journalists took photographs of the attackers, but no one was able to identify the killers. But the residents of Jonestown knew each other by sight...

At the same time, transport planes carrying US Marines took off from airfields in Panama and Delaware and headed for Guyana. Airborne troops were dropped in the vicinity of Jonestown.

Two hours later, three helicopters took off from the territories of Venezuela and the private missions Nuevos Tribos and Resistencia (the “roofs” of CIA bases). The flight time was 1 hour 10 minutes.

The ring around Jonestown has slammed shut. The CIA task force was one of the first to kill Jim Jones. According to Mark Lane, who gave a press interview in Jonestown on November 20, he personally counted 85 shots. "Jones screamed, 'Oh, mommy, mommy, mommy!' Lane recalls, “and then the first shot rang out.”

Mass extermination of people began. When the shots stopped, no more than half of the demoralized inhabitants of the commune remained alive, mostly women, children and the elderly. They were gathered around the central pavilion, then divided into groups of 30 people and dispersed throughout the village under escort. Each group was lined up to receive a “sedative,” which was a mixture of tranquilizers and potassium cyanide. After the appearance of the first victims, twisted in convulsions, panic began again, shots were heard again. The children were forcibly injected with poison by holding their noses. Those who remained were put on the ground and injected with syringes containing the same “cocktail” directly through their clothes into their backs. The corpses were then stacked for supposed mass burning...

For two days, the US army and intelligence services were doing “it’s unclear what” in Jonestown. Only on November 20, Guyanese officials and three journalists (including Krause, who was wounded in the thigh) were allowed into the village.

From the testimony of the Soviet consul in Guyana, Fyodor Timofeev: “Around 20:00 (November 18), an embassy employee called me from the hall, and I saw Deborah Touchet and Paula Adams (members of the Peoples Temple). I asked the policeman to let them into the embassy territory. Everyone was extremely excited. Deborah said she received a message from Jonestown: “Something terrible is happening there. I don't know the details, but the lives of all members of the commune are in danger.

The village is surrounded by armed people. Something happened to Ryan. Someone attacked him while he was returning to Georgetown. I ask you to take this for safekeeping.” And Deborah handed me a heavy case. I asked what was in it. “Here are very important documents of our “Temple”, money and tape recordings,” she answered. I asked how much money.

She replied that she didn’t know for sure, since there were cash, checks, and financial guarantees. Due to extraordinary circumstances, they ask to take them for safekeeping, since it is possible that the headquarters in Georgetown may be attacked, or perhaps it has already been destroyed. I could not refuse these people and took what they brought. The case was later handed over to the Guyanese government. When I returned, my wife said Sharon Amos had called.

This was around the same time that Paula and Deborah tracked me down. Sharon cried and said that Jonestown was surrounded by armed men. Despite the interference, she received a radiogram reporting that helicopters were circling over the village. “Help, Jonestown is dying! - she shouted.

They won't spare anyone! Someone is breaking into my apartment! Do everything to save us! The line has disconnected. My wife immediately called the police, but she was told that a reinforced squad had already been sent to Amos’s house. However, Amos and her three children died. They were stabbed to death by a CIA agent, former Marine Blakey, embedded in Jones' organization. Then he was declared insane and disappeared from view. So, in that terrible night From November 18 to 19, a monstrous massacre took place in Jonestown. The United States committed one of its most terrible crimes - they shot, stabbed, poisoned 918 of its citizens...”

Temple of the Communists. All organizations of the USSR and the USA related to the Peoples Temple knew very well that the “religious sect” in Jonestown was not religious. Jim Jones was indeed a preacher in his youth, but over time he became disillusioned with religion and became an atheist, moreover, a Marxist socialist, which was no secret to his comrades. Why did he call his organization “Temple”?

The reasons are simple: Jones, being a practical man, took advantage of the tax advantages given to religious organizations by American law. And finally, he decided to use the authority of the church: those who came “just to church”, under the influence of Jones’ sermons, often became a convinced socialist.

By the way, Jones was not alone in this. A month before the tragedy in Guyana, Cardinal Wojtyla, Archbishop of Krakow, became Pope John Paul II. True, this church leader was a staunch anti-communist.

Jones, under the church roof, allowed himself to blow his nose during sermons. state flag USA, trampling the Bible with statements like how can you pray to a god who blesses the oppression of the poor, etc.

Jones and his wife fostered eight children of all races (including a son of their own). He lived a markedly ascetic life: he dressed only in second-hand stores, to save money, he refused to travel by plane, using only buses owned by the organization, and he never stayed in expensive hotels and restaurants.

All decisions of the Peoples Temple were made by voting at general meetings, and it happened that the decision did not coincide with the opinion of Jones. The number of its parishioners by the mid-70s reached 20 thousand people, the “council” had 50 permanent members. During the existence of the commune in Guyana, it was visited by more than 500 visitors - Guyanese and foreign citizens - officials, journalists, politicians, and embassy employees accredited in Guyana. In the thick book of reviews, according to the Soviet consul Timofeev, all the reviews were positive, “I noticed that the word “paradise” was often found in these entries. People wrote about the impression they had as if they had been in paradise and saw happy, spiritual people living in harmony with each other and wild, pristine nature.”

Among those who some of Jones' former followers said received political support from him were San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and city official Harvey Milk. They were both shot dead in their offices three weeks ago by “unknown persons.”

Joseph Grigulevich, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, professor: “The first thousand dissident Americans in the jungles of Guyana were only the lead detachment of a huge army of potential political refugees from the United States. The authorities in Washington did not expect such a mass flight from the “capitalist paradise”, and “extraordinary means” were needed to stop this progressive process. The Jonestown massacre was part large complex activities of the US punitive authorities, the goal of which was to eliminate political protest movements: the Black Panthers, the Weathermen, the New Left, etc. Participants in the declared “terrorist” organizations of the Black Panthers and the Weathermen were killed right on the streets and in apartments, opening fire without warning. Thus, radical movements of political protest were completely defeated."

Dr. Nikolai Fedorovsky, doctor at the USSR Embassy in Guyana: “Everything that has been written about Jim Jones and his community in the American press and then reprinted on the pages of other Western newspapers is a complete and malicious fiction. “Suicides”, “religious fanatics”, “sectarians”, “depressive maniacs” - these are the labels that propagandists diligently pasted on dreamers-enthusiasts who began to build in the jungles of Guyana a somewhat naive, but honest, disinterested and noble world for all the dispossessed and damaged Americans.

I remember Jim Jones saying that the members of the cooperative had two ships that could accommodate all the members of the commune with their movable property. Jim Jones wanted, together with his like-minded people, to set off on a long voyage and get to our country, which became his ideal. He felt that clouds were gathering over his community, that “someone” was planning a conspiracy and was ready to carry it out at any moment. That's how it happened..."

A natural question arises: why did the USSR government agree to hush up this terrible story? main reason on the surface, the murder of about a thousand people by punitive forces from the United States, who had already de facto become Soviet citizens, could lead to only one adequate reaction: an ultimatum, which was inevitably followed by the outbreak of the Third World War.

And the decrepit Brezhnev was terrified of her. Documents that members of the Peoples Temple were going to emigrate to the USSR were published only during the period of glasnost in the book “The Death of Jonestown - a CIA Crime” (S. F. Alinin, B. G. Antonov, A. N. Itskov, “ Legal literature", 1987). However, the leaders of the USSR in the late 80s were again unable to inflate this story. The Soviet press has already begun working on a new political thinking and discussion of the concept of universal human values. This whole story did not contribute to the formation of the image of the “civilized world” in the West.

Appeal addressed to the USSR Ambassador to Guyana Richard D. Trope, Secretary General of Jonestown, one of the leaders of the Peoples Temple

The US government also drew its own conclusions from this story. In the States, T-shirts with the inscription “Kill the Commies for the Mammies” are becoming fashionable among young people. Before the surrender of the USSR in cold war only 10 years left...

The will of the slain. "Peoples Temple Agricultural Mission, Johnstown, Port Kaituma, North West Region, Guyana, PO Box 893, Georgetown, Guyana, South America, March 17, 1978

His Excellency the Ambassador of the Soviet Union.

An urgent request. Peoples Temple, a Soviet-style socialist agricultural cooperative of more than 1,000 US expatriates living in Guyana, is being brutally persecuted by American reactionaries determined to destroy it. Our funds are at risk. We appeal to the Soviet Union through Your Excellency with an urgent request to help us open a special bank account for the agricultural cooperative “Peoples Temple” in a Soviet bank in order to ensure the safety of our funds and in the event that our organization is destroyed, to leave them under Soviet control ... "

"PO Box 893, Georgetown, Guyana (South America), September 18, 1978, to His Excellency the Ambassador of the Soviet Union

Georgetown, Guyana.

Dear sir! In the interests of the safety of our cooperative, which is threatened by American reactionaries, for it is a successfully developing socialist collective with a Marxist-Leninist perspective and fully supports the Soviet Union, we declare on behalf of the community (a group of Americans who came to Guyana to help build socialism) about your desire to send a delegation of members of our leadership to the Soviet Union to discuss the issue of moving our people to your country as political emigrants.

Information about the population of the cooperative. total population:

1,200 (including 200 US residents due to arrive in Guyana soon). Under 18 years old - 450 people; from 18 and older - 750 people...

…Basis for this request: Under the leadership of Comrade Jim Jones, Peoples Temple actively fought against civil rights injustice for 25 years in the United States.

The Peoples Temple has always had deep respect for the Soviet Union. Your impressive successes over 60 years of building socialism, victory in a war full of casualties that the Soviet people endured while defending their homeland (and thereby the whole world) from fascism, decisive and constant support Soviet Union liberation struggles throughout the world have been an inexhaustible source of great inspiration for us. In all his public appearances, Comrade Jones declares complete solidarity with the Soviet Union. At every rally the USSR anthem is played...

For many years, and especially after the Peoples Temple donated several thousand dollars to the Angela Davis defense fund, we were harassed by government agents, especially the intelligence agencies. We then managed to find out that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) decided to punish the Peoples Temple and planned to do away with Comrade Jones, as they did with Martin Luther King...

With fraternal greetings, Richard D. Tropp, General Secretary.

"Peoples Temple is an agricultural community in Johnstown."

Mass suicides have always been perceived as cruel and terrible events. Unfortunately, they have happened more than once in human history and continue to happen today. They are committed by a group of people who decide to die together at the same time in the same place or in different parts of the world, but at the same time. When we're talking about about mass suicides, this mainly concerns religious communities or cults, but there are cases when people decide to do this in order not to fall into the hands of enemies.

10. Masada Fortress, Israel

In 73 AD members of the Sicarii society decided to die so as not to fall to their enemies. They were surrounded by the Romans in the fortress of Masada and were unable to escape. The men killed their wives and children first, and then themselves. The survivors set fire to the walls of the fortress and burned along with everyone else. Scientists do not know for sure whether this event took place in history or not, but it is still mass suicide amazes.

9. Pilenai Fortress, Lithuania

Pilenai Fortress became famous as a result of a mass suicide in 1336. The army of the knights of the Teutonic Order has almost won a victory over the defenders of the fortress, who realized that they could no longer hold back the attacks of their enemies. Instead of surrendering, they decide to burn the fortress to the ground along with all their acquired goods and commit suicide. According to chronicles, about 4,000 people lived in the fortress at that time. All the defenders and their families were burned to death.

8. Denpasar city, Bali

In 1906, a terrible mass suicide occurred in the city of Denpasar during the Dutch invasion. During the attack on Royal Palace The Dutch could hear the sound of drums coming from inside and see smoke rising from the palace. Suddenly they saw a procession led by the rajah and priests, which left the palace in complete silence. When the procession stopped, the Raja gave a signal and one of the priests killed him with a knife, and others began to do the same. The Dutch were so amazed by what they saw that they opened fire on the procession. More than a thousand people died then.

7. City of Demmin, Germany

In 1945, as a result of panic caused by the approach Soviet army, a mass suicide occurred in the city of Demmin, Germany. Residents of the city were afraid of torture, rape and executions. Refugees who sought refuge in the city, entire families, decided to commit suicide. They hanged themselves, cut their wrists, drowned in the river and committed self-immolation. In total, 700-1000 people died in this way. After that case Communist Party East Germany has legally prohibited suicide. The bodies of all the dead were buried in a common grave, which was subsequently left uncared for.

6. Heaven's Gate Religious Movement, California

The Heaven's Gate cult community is an American religious movement whose members believed that planet Earth must be reborn. In 1997, a group of people with the belief that somewhere in space an alien ship was flying towards Earth and that in order to get on it you had to die, decided to commit suicide. 39 people committed suicide by drinking a mixture of vodka and phenobarbital in a large white house that they had rented in advance. All the bodies were dressed identically and identical amounts of money were found in their pockets. The victims had bags with things under their heads. The murders took place over three days, so the survivors cleaned up after the dead and then committed suicide themselves. Within a week, 39 people committed suicide - all this so that their souls could get onto an alien spaceship.

5. World cult "Temple of the Sun"

In 1984, Luc Jaure and Joseph di Mambo founded the “Temple of the Sun” cult and began to teach their followers that life is an illusion, and adherents of the cult could be reborn and live on a planet in the constellation Canis. Doctor Jauret and his followers believed that past life he was a Knight Templar and the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. In 1994, mass suicides began. First, in two villages in Switzerland, adherents of the cult poisoned themselves en masse, shot themselves and strangled each other. In 1995, 16 bodies that lay in the shape of a star were found in France. In 1997, there was a fire in a house in Quebec, after which police discovered five charred bodies. Fortunately, the children survived, but were under the influence of drugs. A total of 74 adherents of the Temple of the Sun cult committed suicide.

4. Saipan Island, Japan (Emperor on Suicide Rock)

In June 1944 American soldiers landed on the island of Saipan after a month-long siege by the island's inhabitants and its defenders. Out of fear of being captured, the inhabitants of the island, by order of the emperor, decided to die rather than fall to the enemy. Through loudspeakers, American soldiers reassured the Japanese, offering them food and free exit from the island, but they were so scared that they decided to jump into the sea from a cliff. Today this rock is called “suicide rock.” It is not known exactly how many people died then, but it is believed that about 10,000.

3. God's Ten Commandments Revival Church, Uganda

This religious movement was founded in the 1980s in Uganda by three people who said that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to them and told them that they should go and preach. Followers of the movement believed that the end of the world would happen on March 17, 2000. On this day, more than 500 people came to the church, they prayed, sang songs and ate roasted bull meat. After some time, the church building exploded and everyone died. Later, the corpses of several more followers of the movement were found in their homes. Today there is debate about whether it was a mass suicide or a murder.

2. Tragedy in Waco, Texas

A siege by US federal forces on a ranch owned by the Branch Davidian cult left 76 people dead. American police wanted to check the ranch for illegal weapons, but as a result of the shootout, four agents and six cult followers were killed. After this, the FBI intervened in the situation. The siege lasted 51 days. Soon, FBI agents decided to organize a gas attack. During it, a fire started in the house and 76 people were burned. It is still unknown who initiated the fire, but official bodies are inclined to believe that the adherents themselves initiated the fire, and therefore their own death.

1. Peoples Temple Cult, Jonestown

One of the worst mass suicides took place in Jonestown - 913 adherents of a local cult took poison. Adherents of the cult, organized by Jim Jones, initially gathered with a noble goal - to help those in need, but gradually the members of this cult began to be psychologically processed and held by force. After the assassination of a congressman by cult followers, the leaders instilled fear in the movement's members and encouraged them to commit suicide. 913 people, including 276 children, took poison. Jones died from a gunshot to the head. It is still unknown whether this was a mass suicide or murder.

: 32nd anniversary of the death

On November 18, 1978, 918 American citizens, including about 260 children (83 of them infants), allegedly committed mass suicide in the remote Guyanese jungle community called Jonestown (Peoples Temple Commune), named after the founder and the spiritual leader of the Commune, Jim Jones.

The American press quickly declared this event the largest mass suicide in US history of the 20th century, and US authorities recognized the Peoples Temple organization as a destructive cult and officially banned it.

At the same time, there was no “Lieutenant Colombo” who would be interested in such facts as:

The Commune specially moved in 1975 to Guyana (South America) from the USA, because in the USA the US intelligence services began to persecute it - kill, set fire, blow up, which the Commune repeatedly wrote about in its newspaper “Peoples Temple”.

Already in Guyana, the Commune repeatedly officially informed that it was in danger from the US intelligence services: “Having experienced the viciousness of the reactionary forces in the USA, even here, in a remote area, we do not close our eyes to the possibility that we could literally be physically destroyed "

In September 1977, 14 months before the “suicide,” the CIA sent special squad armed mercenaries with the goal of kidnapping all the children of the Commune and returning them to the United States. For two days, the mercenaries watched the village and tried to understand what was happening there. They saw no barbed wire, no armed guards, nothing that they had been prepared for. On the contrary, they heard American folk songs full of optimism, Negro hymns and spirituals, which the settlers sang in chorus. They saw how parents took their children to school, while they themselves went to work in the fields, farms, and workshops. The leader of the mercenaries, Mazor, admitted to the members of the Commune that these paintings so amazed him and his “companions” that they were unable to fulfill the mission entrusted to them, came to the village and frankly admitted what they were planning to do.

Throughout the existence of the Commune, it was visited many times by official and unofficial delegations from the USA, Guyana, and other countries. Not a single delegation discovered any violence, zombification, or intimidation of members of the Commune.

From a cable to the State Department regarding the visit of US Consul Richard McCoy to Jonestown on February 11, 1978: “Based on his personal observations and conversations with members of the Peoples Temple and Guyanese government officials, the Consul is convinced that it is improbable that reports of anyone being held in Jonestown against your will. During his conversations with Peoples Temple members, he never felt that people were afraid, coerced, or pressured. They looked fairly well-fed and expressed satisfaction with their lives. Some did heavy lifting physical work, repaired equipment and cleared fields, but this is normal work on farms... The people he spoke with face to face (some of them were those who were allegedly being held against their will) freely and naturally carried on conversation and responded to his questions. Local government officials, who often make unannounced visits to the village, told the consul that they had never noticed any strange phenomena in the village."

American lawyer Charles Garry, who visited Jonestown on November 6, 1977: “I visited heaven. I saw a community where there is no such thing as racism..."

The commune was not a religious organization. “We are not a religious, but a completely secular organization. The word “sect” does not apply to us. We used it to disguise our activities when we were in the States. Without this, we simply could not exist, let alone leave the United States together,” Jim Jones told Soviet Consul Fyodor Mikhailovich Timofeev on September 27, 1978, when he and Dr. N.M. Fedorovsky arrived in Georgetown for an introduction to the Commune.

Jim Jones was not some kind of odious fanatic, as they tried to portray him after the murder. Many politicians in California at one time sought his support. In 1976, he helped elect George Moscun to mayor of San Francisco, who responded by inviting Jones to join the city's Human Rights Commission and then appointing him chairman of the housing commission. Also in 1976, future US Vice President Walter Mondale, during a campaign trip to California, invited Jim Jones on board his plane and had a long conversation with him. In 1977, Jim Jones organized a grand rally-meeting with the colored population of California for the “First Lady of the United States” Rosalynn Carter. “It was my great pleasure to be with you during the campaign,” Rosalynn Carter wrote to Jim Jones in a letter dated April 12, 1977.

All members of the Commune underwent mandatory medical examinations twice a year.

The main street in the village was called Lenin Street.

Members of the Commune learned Russian, read Pushkin and Leo Tolstoy in the original, studied the Constitution of the USSR, Soviet laws.

In March 1978, 7 months before the “suicide,” members of the Commune unanimously voted at a general meeting for resettlement for permanent residence in the USSR, for which they submitted an official petition to the Soviet consulate in Guyana.

Immediately before its death, fearing for its fate, the Commune handed over all its financial assets to the Soviet Consul in Guyana F. Timofeev - cash, checks, financial guarantees. Members of the Commune who had the right to sign in banks drew up a will, according to which all deposits of the Peoples Temple in banks were to be transferred to the Soviet Union through the Soviet consul (all this was then transferred by Timofeev to the authorities of Guyana).

At the end of November 1978, the first trip of Commune delegates to the USSR was planned to choose a place of possible residence...

On November 18, 1978, the lives of these, perhaps somewhat naive, people suddenly ended...

On November 17, the day before the murder, a group of “tourists” from the USA arrived at the airport in the capital of Guyana - Georgetown (not to be confused with Jonestown!) - 50-60 people, all men 20-30 years old, of good physical build. They rented several local planes, flew out of the airport and further fate theirs is unknown.

On November 18, US military transport aircraft began landing at the airport in the capital of Guyana. This has not happened since the Atkinsonfield Treaty, under which the US Air Force had the right to use the airfield at Georgetown, was abrogated (the Guyanese government denounced this treaty after CIA agents blew up a Cuban airliner over Barbados in 1977). .

US military personnel blocked the site of the tragedy and did not allow anyone there for two days (!) law enforcement agencies Guyana.

All the corpses lay face down, in approximately the same poses. This is impossible when self-poisoning with any substance, especially cyanide, after taking which death occurs almost instantly. The poses of the corpses and their location were changed by someone after the death of people, which is possible only in the first 2-4 hours after death.

The autopsies required by US rules on criminal corpses were not carried out.

The United States suggested that the Guyanese authorities bury all the corpses in a specially dug large ditch without identifying the corpses and without taking tissue samples. The Guyanese government did not agree with this.

Only on the third day, when the corpses had already begun to decompose from the tropical heat, representatives of the Guyanese authorities were allowed to the scene of the tragedy and the chief pathologist of Guyana, Dr. Leslie Mutu, performed an autopsy on some of the corpses and found traces of potassium cyanide injections on the dead.

Injections were found on the corpses in places that were inaccessible for injection with one’s own hand.

In order to commit suicide using potassium cyanide, you just need to drink this poison. There is no need to inject yourself with this poison.

After much delay, the corpses were taken to Dover Air Force Base (USA, Pennsylvania). Only seven autopsies were performed (December 15, 1978, i.e. almost a month after the death), after which all the corpses were burned in the strictest secrecy.

There was no judicial investigation into the deaths of these people.

On November 18, simultaneously with the “suicide” in Jonestown, Peoples Temple employees working there were killed in the capital of Guyana (more than 200 km from the site of the tragedy).

3 days later, on November 21, in the United States, Jim Jones's friend, San Francisco Mayor George R. Moscun, was killed in his office. Supposedly he was going to make a statement regarding the "suicide" of Jim Jones.

On March 13, 1979, 32-year-old Michael Prox (a former CIA agent embedded in the Peoples Temple, who later repented of this and went over to the side of Jim Jones) organized a press conference in room 106 of the Motel 6 on Kanaz Avenue in Modesto (California). ), distributed his 42-page statement to the assembled reporters, went into the bathroom and shot himself. Prox's statement said: "The truth about Jonestown is being suppressed because the US government took the most Active participation in its destruction. I am sure of this because when I joined the Peoples Temple, I myself was a secret informant...”
...

What should I add here? Ordinary capitalism, nothing surprising...

Defenders of capitalism sometimes say to supporters of socialism: “Why do you want to forcefully overthrow capitalism? If your communist method of management is more effective, organize into communes, work, show greater efficiency of your work, defeat us economically...”
But this is what happens in real life with those who are trying to peacefully, non-violently get out of the power of Capital:

Materials from the book “The Death of Jonestown - a CIA Crime” were used.
Authors: S.F.Alinin, B.G.Antonov, A.N.Itskov
Moscow, “Legal Literature”, 1978 1987 /typo corrected 11/19/13/.

Jonestown is a settlement in South American Guyana where members lived religious sect Peoples Temple, founded by Jim Jones. It is not difficult to guess that the settlement was named after him.

Jim Jones is an American religious preacher. He was born in 1931 in Indiana. WITH early childhood the boy went to church, but the sermons of the priests did not satisfy him. Jim was very sensitive to racial inequality, or more precisely, the superiority of white people over black people. Therefore, having matured, he decided to create his own religious organization that would preach equal rights people of all colors, this is what happened in 1955.

In 1960, Jim Jones becomes a clergyman, marries and, together with his wife, adopts several orphans of different skin colors. Well done, whatever you say! The number of Peoples Temple followers grew very quickly, and soon there were almost thirty thousand people. It would seem like a good idea and a beautiful picture, but the number of people dissatisfied with this organization was large. Basically, these were relatives of people who were part of the Peoples Temple. They were sure that Jones played on the feelings of people who found themselves in difficult life situations. The fact is that almost all the members of his organization are drunkards, drug addicts and other unfortunate people who have lost their way from the normal path. He gave them shelter and care, and in return demanded unquestioning obedience. Relatives of these people later said that Jones took their money and subjected them to corporal punishment for the slightest violation of the rules of the sect (and this was exactly it).

Relatives of the sectarians filed lawsuits with the police, which is why Jones soon came up with the idea of ​​​​settling everyone in one place, separate from the rest of the world. And in 1977, the Jonestown settlement was organized, where more than nine hundred people began to live.
Jim Jones felt like the sole leader here, who could do anything. Perhaps because of this, he developed some mental illnesses, and he began to take potent drugs. Some experts believe that he became a drug addict with a clouded mind.

Of course, the authorities periodically checked Jonestown, often at the request of the same relatives who did not believe in the idyllic picture created in the settlement. But all the checks did not find anything strange or scary: they were met happy with life People.

Residents of Johnstown worked from morning to night: they cut down forests, looked after the surrounding area, they built housing, a club, and a kindergarten. And in the evenings, sectarians gathered for religious meetings, and, according to survivors, Jones often woke everyone up in the middle of the night to arrange an urgent service. It is clear that people who were tired during the day did not like all this. Dissatisfaction with Jones grew like a snowball. The sect leader learned that some of the residents of Jonestown had decided to return “to the world,” which he did not like very much.

Due to the tense atmosphere regarding the claims of the relatives of the “victims” drawn into the sect (the pressure was provided by the former lawyer of Jones, who switched to the other side, opposite to the previous one), it was decided to send Congressman Leo Ryan to the camp for verification. Journalists and members of organizations traveled with him to Guyana, and the committee arrived at the site on November 17. Everything looked rosy, everyone was happy, but Ryan was secretly given information that several community activists wanted to return to the United States. Realizing that not everything is so simple, the congressman decides to examine the situation in more detail, and finds 16 more willing to leave the camp.

The politician who arrived with the inspection issued a verdict that not everything was fine and the people remaining here were in danger: that is, the camp and the community would soon come to an end. He decides to evacuate those who wished to leave Jonestown, and one of the most devoted activists of the organization flies with them, under the pretext of the need to travel to the United States, which surprised everyone.

According to the official version, Jim Jones realized that urgent measures needed to be taken. His brain, inflamed by strong drugs, could no longer think sensibly...

He calmly agreed to the departure of those wishing to leave the settlement and did not persuade them to stay, which surprised many. When people, along with members of the inspection commission and journalists, boarded the plane, one of the sect members opened fire on them. Several more heavily armed zealous sectarians came to his aid and brought the matter to an end. Five people were killed, including US Congressman Leo Ryan, including Ryan, and an NBC journalist who kept his camera on and filmed the killing.

After this monstrous massacre, Jim Jones gathered all the residents of Jonestown for a meeting, told them about what had happened and said that the time had come for everyone to leave for a more perfect world by committing voluntary suicide.

The main evidence in the case is: testimony of witnesses (surviving members of the sect), a post-mortem video recording of the murder at the airport, audio of the last service in which Jones said that the congressman was not alive, and the pilot of the plane would also die soon, since there was a person next to him , who would kill him, after which the leader of the Peoples Temple suggested that everyone commit a voluntary act of suicide, go into a new reality, and rise to a higher level of existence.

Not everyone liked this idea, especially children did not want to die, and there were 270 of them. The main instrument of death was poisoned wine - someone drank it voluntarily, and those who did not want it were forced down their throats. There were cases when frantic parents cut the throats of their children who refused to drink poisoned wine.

A total of 918 people were killed. What about Jim Jones? He was afraid to drink wine and shot himself in the temple, choosing a quicker death. His closest accomplice chose the same death. Two sectarians committed suicide while in another city of Guyana - Georgetown, having previously stabbed to death two of their children. Thus, the total number of suicides is 922 people.

Some lucky ones managed to survive. Maybe they took a small dose of poison, or maybe their body was stronger and more resistant to the potion. It was they who testified that almost all of them committed suicide voluntarily. They said that Jonestown was like a concentration camp, where workers were guarded by armed men, beaten and raped.

After this tragedy, Jonestown was closed, and the Peoples Temple sect was banned. But many sects nowadays not only operate, but also have enormous influence and finances - look how everything looks there

A lot of articles, films, stories screaming only that the sect is to blame for everything - filled the media space of that time. For example, the feature film “Three Days in Jonestown” was like a recreation of the tragedy, but in real life it was a mockery, an insult to the feelings of relatives...

Unofficial version of the Jonestown mass suicide

Unofficial information on an event, as we know, is replete with either shocking or implausible facts, and is almost always more provocative than what we see in the media after processing the services. But in the story about Jones and his organization, it was clear to anyone (or many) that not everything is so simple, the story is dark and ambiguous. In particular, one of the versions is presented in the book “The Death of Jonestown - a CIA Crime” (S.F.Alinin, B.G.Antonov, A.N.Itskov “Legal Literature”, 1987). However, this book is also considered to be another conspiracy theory.

However, it is strange that all this is considered unrealistic after many have been studied and discussed, including, for example, the already famous and.

Here's what the facts say: Jones sympathized with the Soviet Union and wanted to move with all his like-minded people in the status of political emigrants to its territory.

“It was a social experiment, akin to the communes of Fourier and Saint-Simon, trying to organize the life of its followers following the example of the Israeli “kibbutzim” - i.e. denial of private ownership of the means of production and “the work of everyone for the benefit of all”, a kind of “patriarchal communism”, as well as the fight for human rights, against racial discrimination, etc. Jones, in fact, having been a preacher in his youth, eventually became disillusioned with religion and became an atheist, moreover, a socialist-Marxist (!), which was no secret to his comrades. Why did he give the appearance of a church to his organization? Jones, being a practical man, took advantage of the tax advantages given to religious organizations by American law.

Jones and his associates repeatedly expressed their sympathies for the Soviet Union. In an interview given to a TASS correspondent who visited the village, Jones stated that he chose Guyana for the settlement because it is a country with a socialist orientation. In December 1977, commune members Deborah Touchet, Sharon Amos and Michael Prox had a conversation with the consul of the USSR Embassy in Guyana, Fyodor Timofeev, in Johnstown. The guests handed over a number of documents from the commune; a week later, Jones’s wife, Marcelina, told the story of the organization’s creation and that despite their move from the USA, the commune continues to be persecuted. Rumors began to spread in the commune about the imminent move of the community to the USSR. On March 17, 1978, the commune sent Timofeev a letter asking for the transfer of funds. On March 19, another letter was sent with an even more urgent request. On March 20, a delegation from Johnstown visited the USSR Embassy and made known their intention to ask the USSR for political asylum, as well as their desire to place significant funds of the organization in the State Bank of the USSR, accept Soviet citizenship and move to the Union.

This statement puzzled the diplomats, and they immediately began discussing this issue with Moscow, which recommended, first, sending a delegation from the Peoples Temple to the Soviet Union. On September 18, 1978, another letter arrived. On September 27, Fyodor Timofeev and the embassy doctor N. Fedorovsky arrived in Johnstown to report on the decision made in Moscow, after which all members of the commune finally believed in an imminent move. To resolve practical issues of resettlement, Jones's visit to the USSR was scheduled at the end of November - beginning of December 1978. On October 25, 1978, a letter of congratulations arrived from the commune on the occasion of the 61st anniversary of the October Revolution. However, the tragedy prevented the development of further relations with the Soviet Union.

In the capital of Guyana, Georgetown, the Peoples Temple community rented a house, essentially a small hotel, a transit point for guests from the United States. There was also a representative office responsible for liaising the community with Guyanese government agencies, and a radio station. Soon Timofeev visited this house and had a long conversation with a group of representatives of the community leadership: “All these people told me in detail that the struggle of the secret services against the Peoples Temple in the USA had assumed threatening proportions: a number of Temple members were physically destroyed, many were arrested. The FBI and CIA, acting through the diplomatic mission in Georgetown, are participating in the persecution of the community. All correspondence is being censored, the delivery of pensions that are paid through the consulate to the elderly members of this organization is blocked, American customs are detained without reason for cargo sent from the United States to Jonestown. Economic leverage is used. on the Guyanese government to achieve the forced repatriation of members of the US community..." Then the conversation turned to the main question: “how would the Soviet authorities react if members of the Peoples Temple asked the Soviet embassy in Guyana to allow them all to move to the USSR?”

This question was unexpected for me - Timofeev recalls - I said that I could not immediately answer it, but I would inform the USSR Foreign Ministry. At the same time, he emphasized that such a request should be stated in in writing"Soon this document was transferred to the embassy, ​​a photocopy of it is presented in the book. Here

Why Guyana? The main reasons are proximity to the USA (most of the community remained there, many colonists retained ties with relatives, and for passenger transportation and transportation of goods, the community used two of its own small ships to save money), a favorable exchange rate - for five dollars in Guyana you could live there for almost a week - and relative safety, because Guyana belonged to the “non-aligned” countries, pursued a relatively independent policy and tried to build a kind of “cooperative” socialism.

Through the eyes of strangers

During the existence of the commune, it was visited by more than five hundred (!) visitors - Guyanese and foreign citizens - officials, journalists, politicians, and embassy employees accredited in Guyana. In the thick book of reviews, according to the Soviet consul F.M. Timofeev, all the reviews were positive, “the word “paradise” was often found in these entries - people wrote about the impression they had that they had been in paradise and saw happy, spiritualized people living in harmony with each other and wild, pristine nature."

US Embassy staff in Guyana visited the colony from 1974-76. three times, (in 1977 there was a visit by an official representative of the American "Administration for International Development on Agriculture"), in 1977-78 five times (08/30/77, 01/11/78, 02/02/78, 05/10/78, 11/07/78), for the purpose of "... providing consular services, ascertaining the welfare and the whereabouts of American citizens..." In fact, embassy officials were complying with State Department requests to "...investigate allegations that American citizens are being detained against their will..." These visits, which did not reveal any criminality, were the reason for the embassy cable (in January '78), which spoke of the fear that they "could become a reason for reproaches against the embassy and the State Department for '... harassing actions...'" The State Department agreed with this and ordered that one employee be sent no more than once per block, because "...visits carried out without any obvious purpose may serve to increase suspicions that the community is being monitored." During all visits, American officials had access to all buildings in Jonestown without restriction and had personal conversations without witnesses with any resident they wished. Embassy reports state that they constantly anonymously invited their interlocutors to leave the colony, promising them their protection and guaranteeing immunity - and everyone answered unanimously that they did not want to leave, that they did not live in fear and were very happy.

From the embassy report after the visit on January 11, 1978: “Based on his personal observations and conversations with members of the Peoples Temple and Guyanese government officials, the Consul is convinced that it is unlikely that reports that anyone is being held in Jonestown against their will. During conversations with members "Peoples Temple" he never felt that people were afraid, coerced or pressured. They looked fairly well-fed and expressed satisfaction with their lives. Some did hard physical work, repairing equipment and clearing fields, but this was ordinary farm work... . The consul was keeping an eye out for possible attempts to embellish the reality especially for his visit, but judging by the situation in the village, he does not believe that such attempts were made. Everything seemed normal. The people with whom he spoke face to face, (some of them were , who were allegedly being held against their will), talked freely and naturally, and answered his questions. Local government officials, who often visited the village without prior notice, told the consul that they had never noticed any strange phenomena in the village.. The consul, as usual, interviewed 12 members of the Peoples Temple, in relation to whom there were specific statements from concerned relatives that the Peoples Temple was holding them against their will. All answers were negative. The consul asked similar questions general other Peoples Temple members whom he approached on his own initiative...in none of the cases did the consul get the impression that the negative answers he received were rehearsed in advance...all the elderly people with whom the consul discussed social security issues , were neatly dressed and expressed their satisfaction with life in Jonestown. The Consul never had the feeling that the older Peoples Temple members he interviewed were in any way afraid to talk to him... Based on his observations, the Consul found it implausible that anyone in Jonestown was being held against their will. The Consul did not believe that any of the occupants (especially the young men) could not simply find an opportunity to go into the jungle, get to Port Kaituma or Matthews Ridge and ask for assistance in moving onward."

(Evening concert at the club)

After the visit on 02.02.78: “...the deputy head of the mission had the following impressions: the children he saw looked healthy and tidy, he did not notice any signs of a bad attitude towards people... Great impression made a neat appearance of the village and the hard work done to clear and develop the jungle area..."

Visit 05/10/78: “all six people who were individually interviewed by the consul in connection with requests received from their relatives answered in the negative when asked whether they were being held against their will and whether they were being mistreated. Three confirmed that that they received letters transmitted by the consul through the headquarters of the Peoples Temple in Georgetown...after the plane took off from Port Kaituma...asked the pilot to fly slowly over the village to photograph it from an angle that would allow them to notice some... or roads or buildings outside the village that were not visible due to the jungle from an airplane flying directly overhead. When the films were developed, no such structures were found."

The State Department report denied that the Temple was smuggling weapons or anything illegal into Guyana. In September 1977 and January 1978, U.S. and Guyana Customs carried out surprise, thorough inspections of cargo destined for Jonestown. Nothing illegal was found.

And one more important detail: the “Temple of Peoples” was not at all some kind of Tibetan monastery, from which no one left alive. Many colonists left it to visit their relatives in the United States or for other reasons, and then returned - or did not return, and this did not bother anyone. Some colonists were expelled from the commune for any misconduct or on suspicion of “espionage.”

So, we can make the following summary: the impressions of all visitors ranged from enthusiastically to moderately favorable; those directly interested in discovering any violations of human rights in the commune (and having every opportunity to look for them) did not find anything of the kind.

This is what they write in the book “The Death of Jonestown - a CIA Crime”:

« The first thousand dissident Americans in the jungles of Guyana were only the head of a huge army of potential political refugees from the United States. ...Such a mass flight from the “capitalist paradise” was not expected by the authorities in Washington, and “extraordinary means” were needed to stop this progressive process... The Jonestown massacre was part of a large set of measures by the US punitive authorities, the purpose of which was to eliminate political protest movements: “Black Panthers”, “Weathermen”, “New Left”, etc. Members of the declared “terrorist” organizations “Black Panthers” and “Weathermen” were killed right on the streets and in apartments, opening fire without warning. Thus, radical political protest movements were completely defeated»

Here is a version in the style of “conspiracy theory” that exists:

Everything else, which became the culmination of the destruction of the members of the Peoples Temple, is a tangle of mixed events that someone fabricated at their own discretion. The video captured by an NBC journalist shows gunmen, not Jonestown activists. A number of video and audio materials were fabricated, examinations of the corpses were not carried out (and the few that were done look ridiculous), and there were also explanations for the fact that Jones was shot for some reason and did not die from poison.

“All the corpses were burned in the strictest secrecy at air force base Dover.

Despite the fact that absolutely all the facts indicated murder, the main means mass media The United States, such as the New York Times and the Associated Press, immediately called the tragedy a “mass suicide.” The newspapers, as if on cue, smeared the name of Jones and the colonists in the same expressions. A whole series of books and films are dedicated to this tragedy, to which the CIA had a hand, encouraging the authors of these disinformation materials.

The surviving photo and film materials that captured the faces of the killers and the last moments of the victims were never published. Tape recordings allegedly recording the last hours of Jonestown and where Jones calls everyone to “revolutionary suicide”, which emerged after a long period of time, were most likely fabricated retroactively in US intelligence laboratories.”
(Livejournal)

The extermination of the Jonestown residents itself was organized by the CIA, carried out by a couple of hundred mercenaries; airborne troops were dropped in the vicinity of the camp on the evening of November 18 from planes and helicopters. Having shot the strongest (Jones was killed first - that is why the cause of his death was gunshot wounds), the killers set to work on children, old people and women. They were lined up in rows and forcibly given a cocktail of sleeping pills and poison, injected with poison through syringes, and there is also a version that the mercenaries sprayed toxic substances, since the animals were also dead (the performers were wearing gas masks).

The corpses were intended to be burned, for which they were placed in piles, as evidenced by a photo from a helicopter. And a little later, by the time the journalists arrived, the corpses were scattered again. That is, they decided to simply abandon them. Pathoanatomical examinations shocked with their illiteracy; repeating them became meaningless due to the severe decomposition of the dead in the tropical climate. However, one doctor from Indianapolis, who examined the victims, managed to record traces of potassium cyanide injections made in the back. Later they were burned. All media echoed each other and cultivated the idea of ​​suicide against the backdrop of fanaticism and called for labeling the cult as destructive.

Only one person was convicted in this case: survivor Larry Layton (who shot in the cabin of the plane at the delegation about to leave Guyana).

Immediately after this crime, American newspapers announced official version US government: mass suicide on religious grounds. For two days, the US army and intelligence services were doing “it’s unclear what” in Jonestown. The village was isolated from the outside world; even representatives of the Guyanese authorities were not allowed into it. It was not until November 20 that Guyanese officials and three journalists were able to get there. Inconsistencies began to appear in the American version of what happened. The first information transmitted by the army was that 400 corpses had been discovered. A day later, when “outsiders” were allowed into the crime scene, the number of corpses suddenly rose to 800. And finally, on November 26, another 110 corpses were “discovered.”

In the United States, as in most other countries of the world, if there is any doubt about the cause of death, the body of the deceased undergoes an autopsy. The pathologist's report is the main document in the investigation process. The tragedy in Jonestown is very similar in terms of the number of bodies and the distance from civilization to the crash of an airliner in the jungle. For such cases, there are standard procedures, such as photographing each body, face and pose, taking tissue particles and fluids, marking the location and post-mortem position of the corpse with an outline on the ground - after which the body can be moved for a field autopsy or to the mortuary, or, if necessary , embalm. According to the testimony of Dr. Wecht (pathologist, lawyer and member of the commission investigating the circumstances of the death of J.F. Kennedy), leading US forensic experts Sidney B. Weinberg and Leslie I. Lukosh, immediately after information about the “group suicide” spread, they They demanded an autopsy and offered their services. They also suggested using the military morgue in Oakland, since most of the deceased had relatives in California, which would greatly facilitate identification.

What did the US government do?

First, it asked the Guyanese government to bury the bodies in a specially dug ditch. The question of an autopsy was not even raised. The Guyanese government refused.

After two days of empty talk, having made sure that the US authorities were not taking any action to remove the corpses decomposing in the tropical heat from the jungle and having received the Americans’ refusal to conduct an autopsy, the Guyanese authorities began to conduct their own police investigation and identify the victims of the tragedy with the help of surviving colonists. Guyana's Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. S. Leslie Mutu, was able to conduct a number of examinations. There was no response to his repeated requests for help from American specialists. After examining only a small portion of the corpses, a Guyanese pathologist discovered that 83 of the deceased had been given injections of potassium cyanide in the back. He added that he was unable to continue the study due to fatigue, lack of equipment and a complete lack of help.

Only after the corpses had lain in the tropical sun for four days were the first forty bodies packed and sent to the capital of Guyana, Georgetown. There they lay on the ground for several more days, waiting for the arrival of “their” plane. Only on the 10th day were the last corpses delivered to the Dover base (Delaware). There, without an autopsy or taking samples, they were embalmed.

Finally, on December 15, an examination was carried out on the remains of Jim Jones and six colonists. Pathologists noted the absence of frozen samples taken immediately after death. In response to their complaint made to Dr. Crook (responsible for removing the bodies from Guyana), the latter replied: “I didn’t even have a pocket knife, not to mention the special equipment and means for preserving the samples.” Perhaps he told the truth, but we must remember the fact that there was a well-equipped clinic in Johnstown, and it was not difficult to turn to the Guyanese authorities for help.

Summing up the work done, the specialized journal Lab Word (a reputable publication intended for laboratory directors and forensic pathologists in the United States) wrote: “The contradictions, inconsistencies and doubts, the presence of which became obvious as a result of these interviews, leave many questions unanswered. In fact, this episode indicates poor organization of all operations by the US government or its deliberate concealment of the real factors.”

After a short formal investigation, all Communard corpses were burned in the strictest secrecy at Dover Air Force Base.

Despite the fact that absolutely all the facts pointed to murder, mainstream US media outlets such as the New York Times and the Associated Press immediately called the tragedy a “mass suicide.” The newspapers, as if on cue, smeared the name of Jones and the colonists in the same expressions. A whole series of books and films are dedicated to this tragedy, to which the CIA had a hand, encouraging the authors of these disinformation materials.

The surviving photographic and film materials depicting the faces of the killers and the last moments of the victims were never published. Tape recordings allegedly recording the last hours of Jonestown, when Jones calls everyone to “revolutionary suicide,” which appeared after a long period of time, were most likely fabricated retroactively in US intelligence laboratories.

“Peoples Temple's official death came at the end of a short court hearing in a packed San Francisco City Hall. After a thirty-minute hearing, Judge Ira Brown read out the decision to disband the organization... Prosecutor J. Appalas did not object.”

“Citing legal complications, a special committee of the House of Representatives canceled a planned public investigation into the activities of official representatives State Department in the case of mass suicide... Representative from Florida Dante B. Fuschell said that the hearing in the part that concerns the Jonestown tragedy will be postponed indefinitely...”

I.R. Grigulevich, outstanding Soviet illegal intelligence officer, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, professor:

“The first thousand dissident Americans in the jungles of Guyana were only the head detachment of a huge army of potential political refugees from the United States... Such a mass flight from the “capitalist paradise” was not expected by the authorities in Washington, and “extraordinary means” were needed to stop this progressive process. .. The Jonestown massacre was part of a large complex of measures by the US punitive authorities, the goal of which was to eliminate political protest movements: the Black Panthers, the Weathermen, the New Left, etc. ... Participants in the Black organizations declared “terrorist” Panthers and Weathermen were killed right on the streets and in apartments, opening fire without warning. Thus, radical movements of political protest were completely defeated."

Doctor N.M. Fedorovsky, doctor at the USSR Embassy in Guyana:

“I’m not a politician and maybe I don’t judge some events very professionally. But even a person insufficiently knowledgeable in the intricacies of politics is clear that the simultaneous death of members of an agricultural cooperative, or rather, a commune, the murders in Jonestown and Georgetown, the fatal shots at the mayor of San Francisco, who was friends with Jim Jones, are links in one criminal chain of political murders. And I think the extermination of hundreds of people in Jonestown is just as similar to “suicide” as the death of the inhabitants of the Vietnamese village of Song My or the victims of the Zionists in the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Shatila is similar to “suicide.”

Alternative versions:

“The tragedy in Jonestown was received ambiguously by the world community and gave rise to many versions of what happened. In particular, the following versions were put forward:

Immediately after the tragedy, there were indications in the press that Congressman Leo Ryan, during his visit to Jonestown, had discovered indisputable evidence that Jim Jones was a full-time CIA agent who had participated in a long-term experiment on mind control. And to hide real facts(the dead are silent), a mass suicide was organized. The real purpose of what happened in Guyana was the murder of Leo Ryan, and the mass suicide was just a clever maneuver to divert attention.

Jones, along with his people, was killed by CIA agents on behalf of the US government to prevent the commune from moving to the USSR, where Jones could carry out anti-American propaganda with impunity.

The tragedy was provoked by US government agents who infiltrated the organization in order to increase the US military contingent in Guyana without arousing suspicion, and with these forces to destroy the Soviet missile base on the territory of this state as part of the upcoming atomic war.
Most of the documents related to the investigation of this tragedy were classified."

Be that as it may, it is already difficult to say for sure what happened there. On November 18, 1978, Jonestown became the gravesite of almost a thousand people.

Mourners watch as flowers are tossed onto names of loved ones engraved on the Jonestown memorial

sources