Silvia Odio

Silvia Odio is the daughter of a Cuban refugee who was jailed for his attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro in 1962. Odio was with her seventeen-year-old sister Annie, at their Dallas, Texas home, when they were visited by three men on the evening of September 25, 1963. Odio believes that one of the men, who claimed to represent the anti-Castro underground, was either Lee Harvey Oswald or an Oswald imposter.

Oswald or an imposter with his accomplices
The appearance of Leon Oswald at the Odio residence places either Oswald or an imposter in the anti-Castro faction, and among persons of the rightist-militant persuasion. This is problematic for believers of the Warren Report, which portrayed Oswald as a leftist sympathizer. Odio stated that she knew Oswald was the man who came to her door when she saw him on television following the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Loran E. Hall, a self-proclaimed soldier of fortune, fought for Castro and the Cuban Revolution, prior to turning against Castro in 1959. Hall was one of the other two men who appeared at the Odio residence in the fall of 1963. On June 7, 1977 Hall refused to answer questions posed to him by a United States House of Representatives assassination subcommittee. He opted to take the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution when asked if he If he was in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Previously, Hall told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that he visited Odio in the company of two other men, neither of whom was Oswald. Later he changed this story when talking with the FBI.

Hall is the individual believed to have introduced himself to Odio as Leopoldo. The third man was Lawrence J. Howard Jr., a Latino who called himself Angelo in Odio's presence. The Warren Commission contended that Billy Seymour was the Oswald imposter who called himself Leon Oswald.

Leopoldo told Odio in Spanish language dialog that he wanted her to meet an American named Leon Oswald. The entire conversation was in Spanish. Odio remembers Oswald as remaining silent, standing with an odd grin on his face. As they readied to leave the Odio home, Leopoldo said to Odio that he, Oswald, and Angelo would be going to Mexico soon.

Reliability as a witness
Odio is one of the founders of JURE (Junta Revolucionaria Cubana), a leftist leaning organization of Cuban exiles, which opposed both Castro and communism. JURE, founded in 1963, was considered an alternative to the aggressive rightist policies of the Cuban Revolutionary Council. Some Cuban exiles believe JURE is too far to the left in its agenda.

Odio is a college graduate. She has never attempted to profit from her encounter with Oswald through signing book contracts or receiving pay for television interviews. Author Gerald Posner profiled Odio as an unreliable witness and one who has a  histrionic personality disorder. Posner, a defender of the Warren Report, discredited Odio's character by revealing portions of her psychiatric history and accounts of what her friends told him. Specifically, Posner mentioned Odio's hysterical fainting spells and that she is a divorcee who left a fractious marriage.