From Gladio to Guyana: Jonestown and the CIA (Part 3/3)

Utopia or CIA black site? This final exposé unveils Jim Jones as a Gladio operative, his settlement a hub for paramilitary training, mind-control experiments, and a massacre to bury the truth.

Jonestown, the settlement founded by Jim Jones in Guyana, is often remembered as the site of a tragic mass suicide in 1978.

However, research suggests it has deeper connections to CIA operations like Operation Gladio, Operation Condor, and Operation Phoenix.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out Parts 1 and 2 of the series:

For an in-depth look at the connections between Operation Gladio and Jonestown, check out the video linked below by Colonel Towner and AlphaWarrior:

OPERATION GLADIO - CHAPTER 10 - "JONESTOWN" - EP.282

Background on Operation

Operation Gladio was a NATO-backed covert operation in Europe to counter communism, involving secret armies and psychological warfare.

• Operation Condor, active in Latin America, aimed to suppress left-wing movements through state terrorism.

• Operation Phoenix in Vietnam focused on intelligence gathering and targeted killings.

Together, these operations shared tactics like infiltration, paramilitary training, and narrative control, with links to Jonestown. The three operations all centered around some common goals:

• Trafficking Drugs

• Trafficking Arms

• Later, Human Trafficking

And, of course, they all aligned with Western interests under the guise of whatever “flavor of the day” catchphrase they chose:

• “Containing communism”

• “Fighting fascism”

• “Spreading democracy”

The Gladio fingerprints are all over Jonestown:

• Isolated training camps

• CIA-backed destabilization

• Elimination of witnesses to preserve secrecy

Jonestown mirrors these traits, suggesting it was a Gladio outpost in disguise.

Jim Jones: A CIA Operative with Gladio Ties

Jim Jones, the charismatic leader of the People’s Temple, emerges as a linchpin connecting Jonestown to Gladio through his extensive CIA involvement. He had multiple intelligence contacts for doing exactly what he did. Jones’s activities span decades and continents, aligning with Gladio’s global reach.

Jones in Cuba and Brazil: Laying the Groundwork for Coups

Before Jonestown, before the People’s Temple exodus, Jones was already embedded in covert operations supporting U.S. foreign policy objectives.

• February 1960: Jones traveled to Cuba, just a year after Fidel Castro took power. He spent four weeks there and allegedly even snagged a photo with Castro.

• A couple of weeks later, President Eisenhower approved a plan—devised by Richard Bissell—that would later become the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

Was Jones gathering intelligence? Laying groundwork? The timing is suspicious.

Then, in early 1962, Jones was in Brazil, where he remained until mid-1964. While there, he helped make preparations for the military coup that would topple Brazilian President João Goulart in 1964—known as Operation Brother Sam.

João Goulart: The U.S. Target

So we mentioned in Part 1 that Jim Jones was in Brazil from early 1962 to mid-1964. While he was there, he helped to make preparations for the military coup that would topple Brazilian President João Goulart in 1964. This was known as Operation Brother Sam. Prior to this, Jones was in Cuba in February 1960 - a year after Fidel Castro took power. He was there for four weeks and managed to even snag a photo with Castro, allegedly.

A couple weeks after this visit, Eisenhower approved a plan by Richard Bissell that would later become the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

So, circumstances would at least indicate that Jones presence was suspicious.

So back to Goulart.

Joao Goulart

João Goulart, often described as a Social Democrat, stirred unease in Washington by resisting full alignment with U.S. interests during his presidency (1961–1964). Ambassador Lincoln Gordon, in 1962, warned that Goulart’s “independent foreign policy” could open Latin America to leftist penetration.

Brazil’s refusal to denounce Cuba outright as a red flag for potential Soviet alignment created a lot of anxiety in Washington.

Though U.S. officials branded him a “communist,” his true offense lay in seeking alternatives to American demands:

• Independent Foreign Policy: Goulart reestablished diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union in 1961 and maintained neutrality during the Cuban Missile Crisis, signaling a shift away from U.S. influence.

• Economic Nationalism: In 1962, Goulart enacted the Law of Remittance of Profits, restricting multinational companies from transferring excessive profits abroad, which directly impacted U.S. corporations.

• Land Reform Initiatives: His proposed agrarian reforms sought to redistribute land to the poor, which alarmed U.S. officials and Brazilian elites who feared its alignment with communist policies.

• Labor Rights Advocacy: Goulart championed workers' rights and supported labor movements, threatening corporate interests and reinforcing U.S. suspicions of his leftist sympathies.

• Resistance to U.S. Economic Pressure: He resisted U.S. demands for economic stabilization policies, prioritizing domestic development and social reforms over foreign investment interests.

All this to say:

The USA has a habit of labeling anyone that doesn’t bend the knee as a communist.

Whether true or not.

And Jones was right there in the middle of it.

From Brazil to Guyana: The Next Coup

It wasn’t just Brazil that was undergoing a CIA-backed regime change. At the same time, the CIA was laying the groundwork in Guyana—the very country where Jonestown would later be built.

Article from National Security Archive

An article from the National Security Archive revealed that $250,000—that was the price, according to a London Sunday Times article, for the CIA’s coup in Guyana.

With that money, the CIA ensured the rise of their man, Forbes Burnham, to power.

And once Burnham was installed, the U.S. had free rein to start making moves in Guyana.

One of those moves?

Jonestown.

FOUNDATIONS OF THE SETTLEMENT

Nov. 1978 photo shows the Peoples Temple compound after bodies were removed, in Jonestown, Guyana.

Before officially securing the land (that would be Jonestown) in 1974, Jones and his associates began laying the groundwork for the site. Jones leveraged his connections to the Guyanese government, particularly Prime Minister Forbes Burnham, to secure support for the settlement.

Jim Jones with Prime Minister Forbes Burnham of Guyana, 1976

Burnham saw the People's Temple as an opportunity to develop the remote region near Port Kaituma and solidify his relationship with the U.S. government.

Excerpt from 1978 Washington Post Article

It could also be that he saw what happened to his political opponent, Cheddi Jagan, as pointed out earlier.

Jonestown’s location near Port Kaituma made it strategically valuable for U.S. intelligence operations in the region.

The Northwest District bordered Venezuela, a country of significant interest during the Cold War due to its oil reserves and shifting political alliances. Establishing a controlled settlement in Guyana offered a foothold for U.S. operations throughout northern South America.

The settlement was designed as a controlled environment for experimentation, paramilitary training, and psychological manipulation. This pre-Jonestown settlement was known as Shalom Project or Shalom Cooperative.

The Shalom Project: A Precursor to Jonestown

Before Jonestown became the infamous settlement known for tragedy, it was something else entirely—a controlled environment designed for experimentation, paramilitary training, and psychological manipulation. This pre-Jonestown settlement was originally known as the Shalom Project, or Shalom Cooperative.

While it would later be marketed as a utopian commune, its true purpose was far more insidious.

Excerpt from a 1974 State Department Document

A 1974 telegram from the U.S. Embassy in Caracas to the Secretary of State in Washington confirmed the presence of a military force in the region. This Guyanese paramilitary corps was likely the Guyana National Service, a force that not only trained soldiers but also served as a front for covert CIA-backed activities.

This Guyanese Paramilitary Corp was likely the Guyana National Service.

The Shalom Project doubled as:

• A training ground for mercenaries

• A hub for covert arms smuggling

• A site for psychological and social experimentation

Paramilitary training camps were set up on-site, overseen by Jim Jones and his trusted associate, Phil Blakey.

Philip Blakey

Philip Blakey and the boy captain on Cudjoe

Blakey, a British-born Temple member from a wealthy family, was deeply involved in the paramilitary side of the operation. He played a critical role in coordinating logistics, securing funding, and overseeing training operations.

Weapons and sophisticated explosives were smuggled into Jonestown through Temple-controlled channels, ensuring a steady flow of arms for training exercises.

Recruits were transported into Jonestown, trained in jungle warfare, and later deployed to conflict zones like Angola, reinforcing the settlement’s connection to global CIA operations.

CIA Agent Frank Terpil

CIA agent Frank Terpil—a notorious arms dealer and covert operator—admitted to supplying arms and training resources to Jonestown during its early development. His testimony confirmed what many suspected:

Jonestown was never just a commune—it was a CIA training ground.

Time to Move

By the mid-1970s, Prime Minister Forbes Burnham had consolidated power in Guyana and aligned himself more closely with U.S. interests. With his cooperation, the necessary infrastructure was in place to support Jonestown’s dual purpose—serving both the People’s Temple and the CIA’s covert activities.

At the same time, congressional scrutiny of the CIA was intensifying. Revelations from the Church Committee exposed the agency’s black operations, increasing pressure on covert activities worldwide.

Moving Jonestown to Guyana was both strategic and necessary.

• It placed the operation outside U.S. jurisdiction

• It allowed intelligence activities to continue under the radar

• It bypassed new restrictions imposed on the CIA’s domestic and foreign operations

The stage was set.

The move was no longer just an idea—it was imminent.

With growing scrutiny over the Temple’s activities in California and Jones’s increasing paranoia, the shift to a remote, controlled environment in Guyana was the perfect next step.

The groundwork for Jonestown had been laid long before the Temple’s official relocation.

It was only a matter of time.

Jonestown: A Gladio Training Ground and Experiment

Jonestown’s establishment in Guyana’s Northwest District, near Venezuela, was strategic, secured through Jones’s ties to Burnham. Initially called the Shalom Project, it predated the Temple’s 1977 relocation, functioning as a dual-purpose site:

1. A Gladio terrorist training camp

2. An MK Ultra psychological experiment

• Phil Blakey, a Temple member from a wealthy British family, ran a Special Forces training camp there in the mid-1970s, training mercenaries for Angola—a CIA-backed conflict under Henry Kissinger’s directive.

  

• CIA agent Frank Terpil admitted to a BBC interviewer that he supplied arms and mercenaries to Jonestown, confirming its role as a “CIA training center.”

• Mercenaries, clad in khaki, were shipped in via Temple vessels, trained in jungle warfare, and flown to Angola, bypassing congressional oversight—a classic Gladio workaround.

The camp’s infrastructure—sophisticated weapons, explosives, and two distinct sites (a primitive jungle outpost and the main cleared camp)—mirrors Gladio’s isolated training model.

• Deborah Layton Blakey, daughter of Dr. Lawrence Layton (an MK Ultra chemical warfare specialist), managed finances, appropriating funds for arms, while her father oversaw mind-control experiments.

• The medical building housed enough psychiatric drugs for a mid-sized city, not a commune of 900, underscoring the MK Ultra component.

This dual operation—paramilitary and psychological—parallels Gladio’s blend of physical and mental warfare.

The Massacre: A Gladio Cover-Up

The Jonestown massacre itself bears Gladio’s signature: the silencing of witnesses.

• Congressman Leo Ryan, a vocal CIA critic, was assassinated on the Port Kaituma airstrip by Gladio operators using untraceable “dum-dum” bullets—linked to the Bay of Pigs and JFK assassination—alongside CIA agent Richard Dwyer.

• Survivors reported drugged assailants and forced injections, contradicting the suicide narrative.

• Guyana coroner Dr. Leslie Mootoo found 700 deaths were homicides, with injection marks on victims’ necks, yet forensic samples vanished after transfer to the U.S. Embassy.

Colonel L. Fletcher Prouty, a CIA liaison to the Joint Chiefs, revealed pre-positioned body bags and airlift preparations, indicating prior knowledge.

The CIA notified the Defense Department at 3:29 a.m., before Guyanese forces arrived, suggesting an agent like Dwyer or James Adkins (the CIA Chief of Station in Georgetown) was on-site orchestrating the cover-up.

Bodies were arranged facedown, not contorted as cyanide poisoning would cause, and some were left to decompose or embalmed pre-autopsy—tactics seen in Gladio hits like Pope John Paul I’s poisoning.

This orchestrated chaos ensured no survivors could expose Jonestown’s true purpose.

Connecting the Dots

The connections are irrefutable:

• Jones’s CIA Tenure: His roles in Cuba, Guyana, and Brazil tie him to Gladio operations.

• Training Camp Operations: Blakey’s mercenary program, armed by Terpil, mirrors Gladio’s paramilitary cells.

• MK Ultra Integration: Layton’s experiments align with Gladio’s psychological warfare.

• Massacre Execution: Ryan’s assassination, pre-planned logistics, and evidence suppression reflect Gladio’s elimination tactics.

The CIA’s propaganda, labeling Jones a “communist” to discredit leftist movements, further aligns with Gladio’s narrative control, as seen in Oswald’s JFK setup.

Conclusion: Jonestown was a Gladio Node

Jonestown was no isolated tragedy; it was a meticulously planned extension of Operation Gladio.

As Colonel Towner, a veritable expert on Operation Gladio, asserts,

“There was unequivocally an Operation Gladio operation going on at Jonestown in Guyana.”

This nexus of covert power, hidden beneath a cult facade, demands a reevaluation of Jonestown’s place in history.