On November 18, Guyanese would have seen snippets of videos of new stories circulating on social media of the infamous Jonestown.
On that day in 1978, approximately 918 individuals died from cyanide poisoning at what was called the People’s Temple Agriculture Project, or simply Jonestown, a project led by late US cult leader Jim Jones, who was also among those who died that day.
The area is located an hour’s drive from the centre of Port Kaituma in the North West District of Region One (Barima-Waini), and many residents of the area still have eerie feelings about the site. Some have never even visited the site, for obvious reasons. However, Latesha Bernard, a resident of the area, recently braved her feelings and decided to visit what is left of Jonestown. Of course, she had company, and her friends who were visiting Port Kaituma were eager to see what remains of the infamous site.
This monument was erected at the grisly Jonestown site, near Port Kaituma, North West District (Latesha Bernard photo)
“What happened there was sad. I wasn’t even born yet, but I grew up hearing about Jonestown from my parents and other folks,” Bernard said.
After contemplating the idea, she decided late last month to accompany her friends to Jonestown. “Well, it was kind of scary,” she said.
According to Bernard, during her trip, she was overcome by a sad feeling, as she thought about the many lives that were lost at the site. She said her friends were also nervous about the trip, while some were excited to see what remains of Jonestown.
The group departed by vehicle from Port Kaituma at around midday, and were at the entrance to Jonestown one hour later. There, they saw a large green and white sign, emblazoned “Welcome to the People’s Temple, Jonestown”, hanging above the entrance to the site.
The interior of Jonestown, Bernard said, is overgrown with vegetation, and although a group of residents had attempted to clear the site and erect a benab for visitors some time ago, the persistence of the thick vegetation had defeated their resolve.
Silence
Bernard said the group didn’t go far in from the main road, which is some five minutes’ drive. She said the site seemed very quiet; only birds can be heard in the background. They walked around, and took photographs of the monument which was built at the location in memory of the victims of the tragic incident.
After meeting increasing crackdown from the US authorities, Jones and his associates had built the infrastructure at Jonestown for the People’s Temple church after travelling to the area in 1974. Jones’s church in the United States was split after being perceived to be involved in politics in California.
In 1977, Jones and his associates convinced their followers to migrate to Jonestown after receiving permission from the Guyanese Government. They moved to Guyana by the hundreds, but soon after became frustrated, as life changed considerably.
According to media reports, at the time, the population had become increasingly concerned about Jones’s apparent sway to communism, his mental health, and his spread of propaganda on Soviet and Cuban news and commentary.
US Congressman Leo Ryan visited Jonestown on the eve of what would turn out to be the largest mass killing in history. His delegation’s visit was initially stalled by colleagues of Jones, and while spending time at the community, Ryan began to receive numerous complaints from residents about the conditions they were living under. Jonestown’s population at the time had comprised more than 70% African Americans.
After encountering hostility during his visit on November 17, 1978, Ryan was told to leave the site by Jones’s security the next day. That day turned out to be dramatic, as Ryan was stabbed while compiling data on persons who wanted to leave the site. He died when his entourage came under gunfire at the Port Kaituma Airstrip on the afternoon of November 18, 1978. During that time, Jones and his associates had prepared a deadly concoction of Flavour Aid mixed with cyanide and other harmful chemicals for residents at Jonestown. Temple residents were forced to drink the concoction, which led to their untimely deaths. The grisly scene was processed by Guyanese and American authorities in the days following the mass killings, and remains one of the most infamous incidents in global history.
