The United States government has released over 230,000 pages of FBI documents related to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., in compliance with an executive order signed by former President Donald Trump last January.
PUBLICIDAD
The material, declassified by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in collaboration with the Department of Justice, the National Archives, and the FBI, includes internal communications, surveillance reports, phone tap transcriptions, investigations into King’s assassination, and documentation on the federal authorities’ surveillance of him.
PUBLICIDAD
The early release of these documents partially revokes a 1977 court agreement that had kept the files sealed until 2027. The decision is based on Executive Order 14176, which orders the disclosure of records related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.
The FBI collected these documents as part of intelligence programs such as COINTELPRO, which during the 1960s investigated and monitored figures considered subversive, including leaders of the civil rights movement.
King’s family expressed their opposition to the publication of the files and warned about the “disturbing” nature of the content, pointing out that it reveals the extent of the harassment he was subjected to. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization co-founded by King, also rejected the release and requested a review of the material with historical context.
At the moment, no new evidence has been identified linking the 1968 assassination of King to a broader conspiracy. The only person convicted of the crime, James Earl Ray, died in prison in 1998 after unsuccessfully attempting to retract his guilty plea.
The National Archives continue to process the remaining material and anticipate that the final volume will exceed 240,000 pages. The already available documents can be accessed on the official web portal of the intelligence office.