US releases new batch of documents about JFK assassination

WASHINGTON — The National Archives on Wednesday made public nearly 1,500 documents related to the U.S. government’s investigation into the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The documents include CIA cables and memos discussing Oswald’s previously disclosed but never fully explained visits to the Soviet and Cuban embassies in Mexico City as well as discussion, in the days after the assassination, of the potential for Cuban involvement in the killing of Kennedy. One CIA document marked “Secret Eyes Only” details what it says were U.S. government plots to assassinate Castro, including a 1960 scheme “that involved the use of the criminal underworld with contacts inside Cuba.” Another document made public Wednesday shows the U.S. government evaluating whether Oswald, while living in New Orleans, may have been swayed or affected in any way by the publication in the local newspaper of an interview an Associated Press correspondent conducted with Castro in which Castro warned of retribution if the U.S. were to try to help take out Cuban leaders. The new files include several FBI reports on the bureau’s efforts to investigate and surveil major mafia figures like Santo Trafficante Jr. and Sam Giancana, who are often mentioned in conspiracy theories surrounding Kennedy’s assassination.