White House, October 23, 1962: President Kennedy signs the declaration prohibiting the supply of nuclear weapons to Cuba
Photo: Cecil Stoughton / White House / John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum / REUTERS
Almost 60 years after the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy, current President Joe Biden has released thousands of secret documents.
There are different statements about the exact number.
According to the dpa news agency, there are more than 12,000 documents, according to the AFP news agency, the US National Archives spoke of more than 13,000.
This means that 97 percent of the approximately five million pages stored in the National Archives on the assassination of "JFK" have now been released.
A year ago, the Biden government had already released around 1,500 documents.
Biden's predecessor Donald Trump had released more than 53,000 documents in seven tranches.
Biden said a "limited" number of documents would remain classified.
This is necessary to prevent "damage to military defense, intelligence operations, police work, or foreign policy."
The documents that have now been published deal, among other things, with international travel and contacts of Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in the weeks, months and years before the crime.
Various conspiracy theories
US Democrat Kennedy was shot dead in an open car on November 22, 1963 at the age of 46 in Dallas, Texas.
The investigation concluded that Oswald, who in turn was killed two days later by nightclub owner Jack Ruby, acted alone.
Nevertheless, to this day various conspiracy theories surround the assassination attempt on the charismatic president, which caused bewilderment worldwide.
Experts are now hoping for new insights from the documents.
Dam/dpa/AFP
