<B-0>22523</B-0>
<B-1>Decades after the crime that changed the course of American politics, conspiracy theories survive</B-1>
<B-2>The U.S. National Archives on Wednesday released about 1,500 documents related to the government investigation into the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy.</B-2><B-3>The release of classified texts from wiretaps, internal memos and other documents came within the deadline set by Joe Biden in October and is consistent with federal law requiring the release of records held by the government. Additional documents are expected to be released over the coming year.</B-3></B-4></B-5>What the records "hide."</B-4></B-5></B-6>There are currently no indications that these records include new revelations that could change the public's view of the events surrounding Kennedy's assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963 at the hands of Lee Harvey Oswald.</B-6><B-7>But the latest documents have been eagerly received by historians and those who, decades after the assassination, still question whether, at the height of the Cold War, a deranged young man who ordered his gun through the mail was the sole culprit for the crime that changed the course of American history.</B-7><B-8>The documents include transcripts of CIA wiretaps and memos discussing Oswald's already known but so far partially unexplained visits to the Soviet and Cuban embassies in Mexico City and post-assassination discussions about Cuba's possible involvement in the crime.</B-8><B-9><B-10>Oswald and the embassies</B-9></B-10>.
<B-11>One such transcript describes a call from Oswald to the Soviet embassy in Mexico City, Mexico, in which he applied for a visa to visit the Soviet Union. In addition, he also visited the Cuban embassy, again interested in a travel visa that would allow him to enter Cuba in order to wait there for the Soviet visa to be issued. On October 3, more than a month before the assassination, he returned to the United States by crossing the border into the state of Texas.</B-11><B-12>Another memo, dated the day after Kennedy's assassination, states that according to a call intercepted while he was still in Mexico City, Oswald had contacted a KGB official from the Soviet embassy in September of that year.</B-12><B-13><B-13><B-14>"He had declared himself a communist"</B-13></B-14><B-15>After Kennedy's assassination, Mexican authorities arrested a Mexican employee of the Cuban embassy who had contacted Oswald. She told them that Oswald "had declared himself a communist and an admirer of Castro," according to the records.</B-15><B-16>A CIA document titled "For Secret Eyes Only" tracks the U.S. government's plots to assassinate then-Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Among them was a 1960s plot "involving the use of the criminal underworld with contacts inside Cuba".</B-16><B-17>Another paper wonders whether Oswald, at the time he was living in New Orleans, could have been influenced in any way by the publication in a local newspaper of an interview Castro gave to an Associated Press correspondent in which Castro warned of retaliation if the U.S. assassinated a Cuban leader.</B-17><B-18><B-19>Mafia and Conspiracy Theories</B-18></B-19><B-20>The new records also include several FBI reports on the agency's efforts to investigate and put under surveillance major figures in the U.S. mafia, such as Santo Traficante Jr. and Sam Giancana, who are often cited in conspiracy theories developed around the Kennedy assassination.</B-20><B-21>In addition to the Kennedy investigation, material of interest to counterintelligence scholars during the 1960s has been made public, with pages upon pages detailing the methods, equipment and personnel used to monitor the Soviet and Cuban embassies in Mexico City.</B-21><B-22>In 2017, Donald Trump had blocked the release of hundreds of documents because of concerns from the FBI and CIA, citing that they could cause "potentially irreparable harm." However, some 2,800 other documents were released at the time.</B-22><B-23>The Warren Commission had concluded in 1964 that Oswald was the sole culprit in the Kennedy assassination, while another congressional investigation in 1979 found no evidence to support the theory of CIA involvement. But conspiracy theories survive to this day.</B-23></B-23></B-24></B-25></B-26>With information from Guardian</B-24></B-25></B-26>
<B-27>Contents of this article including associated images are owned by <B-28>Cyprus Times</B-27>
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or <B-29>Cyprus Times</B-28></B-29>
<B-30>Source</B-30>
<B-1>Decades after the crime that changed the course of American politics, conspiracy theories survive</B-1>
<B-2>The U.S. National Archives on Wednesday released about 1,500 documents related to the government investigation into the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy.</B-2><B-3>The release of classified texts from wiretaps, internal memos and other documents came within the deadline set by Joe Biden in October and is consistent with federal law requiring the release of records held by the government. Additional documents are expected to be released over the coming year.</B-3></B-4></B-5>What the records "hide."</B-4></B-5></B-6>There are currently no indications that these records include new revelations that could change the public's view of the events surrounding Kennedy's assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963 at the hands of Lee Harvey Oswald.</B-6><B-7>But the latest documents have been eagerly received by historians and those who, decades after the assassination, still question whether, at the height of the Cold War, a deranged young man who ordered his gun through the mail was the sole culprit for the crime that changed the course of American history.</B-7><B-8>The documents include transcripts of CIA wiretaps and memos discussing Oswald's already known but so far partially unexplained visits to the Soviet and Cuban embassies in Mexico City and post-assassination discussions about Cuba's possible involvement in the crime.</B-8><B-9><B-10>Oswald and the embassies</B-9></B-10>.
<B-11>One such transcript describes a call from Oswald to the Soviet embassy in Mexico City, Mexico, in which he applied for a visa to visit the Soviet Union. In addition, he also visited the Cuban embassy, again interested in a travel visa that would allow him to enter Cuba in order to wait there for the Soviet visa to be issued. On October 3, more than a month before the assassination, he returned to the United States by crossing the border into the state of Texas.</B-11><B-12>Another memo, dated the day after Kennedy's assassination, states that according to a call intercepted while he was still in Mexico City, Oswald had contacted a KGB official from the Soviet embassy in September of that year.</B-12><B-13><B-13><B-14>"He had declared himself a communist"</B-13></B-14><B-15>After Kennedy's assassination, Mexican authorities arrested a Mexican employee of the Cuban embassy who had contacted Oswald. She told them that Oswald "had declared himself a communist and an admirer of Castro," according to the records.</B-15><B-16>A CIA document titled "For Secret Eyes Only" tracks the U.S. government's plots to assassinate then-Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Among them was a 1960s plot "involving the use of the criminal underworld with contacts inside Cuba".</B-16><B-17>Another paper wonders whether Oswald, at the time he was living in New Orleans, could have been influenced in any way by the publication in a local newspaper of an interview Castro gave to an Associated Press correspondent in which Castro warned of retaliation if the U.S. assassinated a Cuban leader.</B-17><B-18><B-19>Mafia and Conspiracy Theories</B-18></B-19><B-20>The new records also include several FBI reports on the agency's efforts to investigate and put under surveillance major figures in the U.S. mafia, such as Santo Traficante Jr. and Sam Giancana, who are often cited in conspiracy theories developed around the Kennedy assassination.</B-20><B-21>In addition to the Kennedy investigation, material of interest to counterintelligence scholars during the 1960s has been made public, with pages upon pages detailing the methods, equipment and personnel used to monitor the Soviet and Cuban embassies in Mexico City.</B-21><B-22>In 2017, Donald Trump had blocked the release of hundreds of documents because of concerns from the FBI and CIA, citing that they could cause "potentially irreparable harm." However, some 2,800 other documents were released at the time.</B-22><B-23>The Warren Commission had concluded in 1964 that Oswald was the sole culprit in the Kennedy assassination, while another congressional investigation in 1979 found no evidence to support the theory of CIA involvement. But conspiracy theories survive to this day.</B-23></B-23></B-24></B-25></B-26>With information from Guardian</B-24></B-25></B-26>
<B-27>Contents of this article including associated images are owned by <B-28>Cyprus Times</B-27>
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or <B-29>Cyprus Times</B-28></B-29>
<B-30>Source</B-30>
