The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

When Jonestown was about a South American border dispute, not mass death

By
July 28, 2015 at 12:52 p.m. EDT
Bodies are seen on the ground after more than 900 people were forced to commit suicide by the direction of the Rev. Jim Jones in Jonestown, Guyana, in 1978. (Frank Johnston/The Washington Post)

Then as now, Guyana's border dispute with Venezuela was simmering in 1974 when leaders of the former British colony thought they had found a solution to the conflict with their more-powerful, oil-rich neighbor.

A wealthy, well-connected American preacher wanted to set up a socialist commune in their country, and he was willing to put it right next to the boundary with Venezuela. He was the Rev. Jim Jones.