US releases cache of secret JFK assassination files

The US National Archives on Wednesday published nearly 1,500 hitherto secret documents about the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

The documents — released in line with a federal statute — highlight how the Soviet Union, Cuba, and the Italian mafia were all placed under suspicion.

Can the files shed light on anything new?

In 1964, the Warren Commission concluded that  Kennedy was fatally shot by a lone gunman — Lee Harvey Oswald — on November 22, 1963.

Investigators concluded that Oswald worked alone when he shot at the president in an open-top limousine as he and First Lady Jacqueline were driven through the streets of Dallas, Texas.

However, the case still fuels conspiracy theories, and polling has long suggested many Americans have their doubts.

Amond the myriad explanations is the theory that Oswald had backing from Cuba or the Soviet Union. The killing came just over a year after the Cuban missile crisis.

Others claim that anti-Cuba activists had Kennedy killed, possibly with support from US intelligence or the FBI.

There is also the notion that Kennedy's political rivals at home somehow hatched a plot to assassinate him.

What do the files show?

The tranche of documents doesn't appear to immediately throw up significant revelations about Kennedy's murder.

However, the release was eagerly anticipated by historians and many others interested in arcane details of 1960s counterespionage, with pages listing methods, equipment, and personnel used to surveil targets.

The 1,491 files, many of them lengthy reports, include CIA cables and memos discussing Oswald's previously disclosed but never fully explained visits to the Soviet and Cuban embassies in Mexico.

It also details discussions immediately after the assassination of the potential for Cuban involvement in Kennedy's murder.

One CIA document marked "Secret Eyes Only" also gives information about US government schemes to assassinate Castro, including a 1960 plot involving the use of the "criminal underworld with contacts inside Cuba."

The files include FBI reports on efforts to investigate and spy on major mafia figures like Santo Trafficante Jr. and Sam Giancana who are often mentioned in conspiracy theories about the assassination.

Why are they being released now?

A 1992 law — partly prompted by a furor surrounding the Oliver Stone film "JFK" — stated that all records being held back on the assassination should be publicly disclosed by October 2017.

Former President Donald Trump declassified more than 53,000 documents, taking the proportion of the entire assassination archive available to the public to 88%.

However, Trump left thousands of others under wraps on the grounds of national security.

President Joe Biden pledged to honor the law, but in October postponed more releases until now.

At the time, he said, the delay was "to protect against identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or the conduct of foreign relations."

It is expected that additional documents are to be made public next year.

rc/fb (AFP, AP)