Baseman posted:VishMahabir posted:What did Burnham or Guyana get from allowing Jim Jones to get that land in the interior?
Vish, it was complicated and tied in with a political debt Jimmy Carter felt he owed JJ for helping him get elected. JC asked the Guyana government to offer him sanctuary for his flock. Guyana has just gone Marxist and JJ espoused that ideologically. JJ felt Guyana was best as it was safe, Marxist but still offered open access to the USA.
JJ offered a flow of money and support against Venezuela in its renewed claim to Essequibo. This is why they were offered a piece of land in the heart of the contended territory. Also JJ wanted to be away from probing eyes.
JJ claimed to have many newly returned Vietnam within his control. My dad met with them routinely regarding their agro plantation and tropical farming methods. Larry Layton and another (Chuck), both Vietnam vets, told my dad they can introduce as much as 1,000 vets into the conflict. True or not, we will never know.
My dad thought it was Chuck who killed the mother and three daughters at their GT HQ. That mother and daughters were scheduled to visit our home in GT in about two weeks. She had asked my dad to introduce the girls as they wanted local friends. My four sisters were the ages of those girls.
This makes a lot of sense. I read somewhere that Jones had his people from the Peoples Temple campaigning on the streets of San Francisco and Redwood for the Democratic party and Carter.
Burnham was a very cunning and smart fox. He probably eventually realized that Jones had enough armed and dedicated followers that can spearhead and be in the front of any ultra-left wing backed coup against him.