Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Alleged Mexican and Cuban Associate Claims

This section details the Commission’s investigation into Oswald’s alleged contacts with Mexican or Cuban individuals, principally through the testimony of Mrs. Sylvia Odio (born Havana 1937, member of the anti-Castro JURE organization). Mrs. Odio testified that in late September 1963, three men visited her Dallas apartment: two appearing Cuban or Mexican (one identifying himself as “Leopoldo”) and an American introduced as “Leon Oswald,” allegedly an excellent ex-Marine shot interested in the Cuban cause. Leopoldo later called to describe the American as “kind of nuts” and reported him saying Kennedy should have been assassinated after the Bay of Pigs. Mrs. Odio and her sister were certain the American was Oswald, fixing the date as September 26 or 27 based on her October 1 move. The Commission established, however, that Oswald was provably in New Orleans on September 23 and cashed an unemployment check there between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. on September 25, before traveling by Continental Trailways bus from New Orleans to Houston (arriving 10:50 p.m. on September 25) and then boarding bus No. 5133 from Houston to Laredo at 2:35 a.m. on September 26, crossing the border between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. that day as confirmed by Mexican immigration records. No evidence indicated Oswald flew between New Orleans and Dallas, no Dallas-to-Laredo bus tickets were sold September 23-26, and Oswald told bus passengers he had come from New Orleans directly. A September 25 phone call to Houston further undermined the Dallas presence theory. Despite the Commission’s conclusion that Oswald was not in Dallas at the relevant time, the FBI conducted further investigation, locating Loran Eugene Hall (an anti-Castro activist) who acknowledged visiting Mrs. Odio in September 1963 with Lawrence Howard and William Seymour (whom Hall described as resembling Oswald and speaking little Spanish). The Commission concluded Oswald was not at Mrs. Odio’s apartment. Additional testimony from bartender Evaristo Rodriguez (Habana Bar, New Orleans) describing Oswald with a Latin-appearing man was undermined by inconsistencies with bar owner Orest Pena’s prior FBI statements and evidence that Oswald did not drink to excess. Finally, attorney Dean Andrews’s testimony about Oswald visiting his New Orleans office with a Mexican companion was uncorroborated, with no records located and his secretary having no recollection of such visits.