Mr. Donovan. Never. It came as a complete surprise to me that he had turned up in Moscow.
Mr. Ely. In fact, he never mentioned thoughts of traveling at all anywhere outside the country.
Mr. Donovan. He never mentioned it to me.
Mr. Ely. Did you ever hear of his mentioning it to anybody else?
Mr. Donovan. I never heard of it being mentioned to anyone. Evidently that was a rather well kept secret, that he intended to depart so suddenly.
Mr. Ely. You mentioned that Oswald spoke of injustices which took place during the Batista regime. Do you remember his referring to any other country specifically with regard to injustices?
Mr. Donovan. No, I don't, except for Asia in general. I think in talking with the FBI and the Secret Service I mentioned Guatemala or something, and I tried to tell them that was only an example, that I never heard him specifically refer to Guatemala, or Venezuela, or wherever I was talking with them about.
But he had served in the Orient, and he had seen poverty in the extreme, as anyone who goes to the Orient does, and he had mentioned that that was unjust.
Mr. Ely. Did you notice any specific interest in Latin America?
Mr. Donovan. Yes. I would say that he was particularly interested in Latin America. He, for instance, was relatively familiar with the Betancourt family, which is a prominent North, South American and Central American family, and their regime as a family.