Venezuelan Missionaries Reassigned

"Thats way crazy about Venezuala. What is the "tension" exactly? I have never even heard of that President and also I dont know any missionaries who are serving in that region. The closest is James Swift in Guatemala."

Amid increasing tensions between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the US government, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has withdrawn all its North American missionaries from Venezuela, spokesman Dale Bills said Monday.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had trouble getting or renewing visas for its US missionaries, Bill said, so it has reassigned missionaries working in Venezuela to other Spanish-speaking missions in Latin America, the United States and Canada. Venezuelan LDS missionaries will remain in the country.

In just four hours Sunday, the Utah-based church removed an estimated 400 missionaries, some between ages 19 and 24 and others who are retired couples. The church has a temple in Caracas, and 144 congregations with more than 122,000 members on their rolls.

--from Salt Lake Tribune, October 25, 2005