Guyana Jim Jones Massacre Nears 30th Anniversary

For decades, the names Jim Jones and Jonestown, and the phrase "drink the Kool-Aid" have been infamous in American history. For decades, whenever any cult gets too powerful or too dangerous, Jones and Jonestown are brought up by comparison. No matter what kind of cult comes around, they would have to be hard pressed to wreck the kind of destruction, and self destruction, that Jim Jones brought in Jonestown at Guyana.

This week, the memories and terror of that town are revisited as the 30th anniversary of the Jonestown massacre is to be observed.

On November 18, it will be the 30th anniversary of that famous day where 900 members of the Jonestown community killed themselves, or were killed by other followers. But tonight, CNN gets a jumpstart on that anniversary in a prime time special "Escape from Jonestown" hosted by Soledad O'Brien.

The special focuses on the 33 members of Jonestown who survived the day of mass suicide. Jones' own son was able to survive since he was a member of the community basketball team. They had left Jonestown to compete in games before the events of November 18, 1978.

Jones had moved his church out of San Francisco to the jungle of Guyana, hoping to build a utopian, socialist paradise. But Jones left America after charges that his church was full of financial abuses. Soon, the charges made against Jones' new Jonestown in Guyana were getting worse and worse.

The climactic suicide was set in motion when U.S Congressman Leo Ryan from California visited Guyana. He brought along cameras and reporters to document his investigation into Jonestown. The theory is that when church members asked for Ryan to take them back to America, Jones ordered the deaths of the defectors and Ryan as they got to the airport.

Once Ryan was killed, Jones saw no way out but to commit his mass suicide. Over 900 followers drank Jones' special Kool-Aid laced with cyanide. 303 of them were children, who were reportedly force fed the cyanide. Jones was shot in the head to complete the ritual.

CNN's special on Jonestown will report that Jones had planned for a mass suicide at least two years before that day. The investigation found out that Jones had been buying cyanide as far back as 1976.

Some more positive attention has been paid to the Jones family lately. Jones' son Stephen escaped Jonestown due to playing basketball, and now his son Rob is a college basketball player for San Diego University. Jones helped the team defeat Uconn in a major upset in last year's NCAA Tournament.

CNN's "Escape from Jonestown" special airs tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern.

Sources

CNN- "Inside the Jonestown massacre" www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/12/jonestown.factsheet/

UPI.com- "CNN: Jim Jones had long planned killings" www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/11/12/CNN_Jim_Jones_had_long_planned_killings/UPI-71471226517519/

SF Gate- "Utopian nightmare" www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi