The government of In the early hours of Wednesday (19) more than 63,000 pages of documents related to the murder of the former president John F. Kennedy em 1963.
The release of the archives, which were partially restricted for decades, was ordered by President Donald Trump and returns to throw light on an episode of American history permeated by conspiracy theories. Here’s what is known so far about the documents, and information has been revealed.
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What was disclosed?
The National Administration of US Archives and Records (National Archives and Records Administration – NARA) has made available about 2,200 additional files containing thousands of previously hidden information pages. However, this is just a fraction of more than 6 million documents related to the case: about 99% had been previously made public.
Among the new documents, there are records without the old editions and censorship that, according to historians, made it difficult to analyze the events related to the murder.
According to Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Policy Center, the volume of information will require time to analyze in detail. “We have a lot of work ahead, and people need to accept it,” he told Associated Press.
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What do the files say?
The new information shed more light on CIA and FBI actions at the time, as well as the movements of Lee Harvey Oswald, accused of murdering Kennedy. Among the highlights:
- A CIA memo confirms that Oswald called the Soviet embassy in Mexico City asking for a visa to travel to the Soviet Union weeks before the murder.
- Another document mentions an intercepted connection, one day after the murder, between Oswald and a KGB officer at the same embassy.
- An internal note of CIA dated 1991 reports that a KGB officer revised five Oswald file volumes and concluded that he was never controlled by the Soviet agency, and doubting that someone could “control it.”
- There are records of Oswald visits to the Cuban and Soviet embassies before returning to the United States by Texas in October 1963.
Is the release complete?
Despite large scale dissemination, experts point out that not all files were included in the latest lot. Jefferson Morley, vice president of Mary Ferrell Foundation, an organization that investigates JFK’s murder, said the release was an “encouraging start,” but stressed that about two thirds of the promised files have not yet been made available. He also noted that documents recently discovered by the FBI were not in the publication.
There are still approximately 3,000 files that have not been completely disclosed, including about 500 US Federal Revenue records, which are not subject to the 2017 declassification rules.
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Conspiracy Theories
Kennedy’s murder has generated numerous conspiracy theories over the decades. The Warren Commission, created to investigate the case, concluded that Oswald acted alone, but doubts persist about the possible participation of the mafia, the Soviet Union or other entities in the crime.
According to Sabato, his team still seeks sensitive documents that were widely censored in the past. “If something was completely written, it means that there is something very, very sensitive there,” said the researcher. He believes that some of the records may be related to Cuba and CIA’s performance in the period.
In 2017, Trump promised to publicize all the remaining files, but kept some under confidential alleging risks to national security. Additional documents were released during Joe Biden’s administration, but all records have not yet been open to the public.
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It is also expected that the new release can bring more information about the context of the Cold War, the US intelligence operations and the political climate of the time. File analysis, however, should take months, or even years, to be completed by researchers and historians.
(With information from the Associated Press)
