This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/world/americas/americans-venezuela.html

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Detained American Missionaries Leave Venezuela Detained American Missionaries Leave Venezuela
(about 3 hours later)
CARACAS, Venezuela — Four American missionaries who were held for three days and questioned by Venezuelan authorities were on their way home on Saturday. CARACAS, Venezuela — Ratcheting up tensions with the United States, President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday ordered a sharp reduction in the number of diplomats at the American Embassy here, said Americans would now need visas to enter the country and took other measures to retaliate for sanctions imposed by Washington on Venezuelan officials.
Bruce Dick, the pastor of the Bethel Evangelical Free Church in Devils Lake, N.D., where the four missionaries are from, said that they arrived in Aruba, an island off the coast of Venezuela, on Saturday morning. From there they planned to return to the United States. He said that it was not clear whether they were deported or had left voluntarily. Mr. Maduro announced the steps at a rally at the presidential palace, hours after four missionaries from North Dakota who had been held and questioned by Venezuelan authorities since Wednesday left the country. It was not clear if they were deported or left voluntarily.
Venezuela, a major oil exporter to the United States, is struggling with a deepening economic crisis, with many basic goods in short supply. President Nicolás Maduro, a leftist, blames capitalist enemies, including the United States, for the country’s troubles and has accused Washington of backing conspiracies to overthrow him. The United States says that is not true and has pressed Venezuela to release opposition politicians it has arrested and to guarantee the human rights of antigovernment demonstrators. Venezuela, a major oil exporter to the United States, is mired in a deep economic crisis marked by recession, high inflation and shortages of basic goods and medicines. Mr. Maduro, a leftist whose popularity is slumping, blames capitalist enemies and the United States for the country’s troubles and has accused Washington of plotting a coup to oust him.
Mr. Dick said the missionaries — three men and a woman — included a doctor and a hearing specialist who had made several trips to a small coastal town, Ocumare de la Costa, to provide medical aid to the residents and to support a local church. The United States denies those allegations and has pressed Mr. Maduro to release arrested opposition politicians and guarantee protections for antigovernment demonstrators.
Mr. Dick, who spoke by telephone from North Dakota, described a trying and mysterious ordeal, in which the missionaries got little sleep and were repeatedly questioned by Venezuelan authorities. Before getting on the flight to Aruba, he said, they had been awake for about 30 hours. Calling for “equal terms between countries, respect between countries,” Mr. Maduro said that the United States must immediately reduce the number of officials at its embassy here. “They have 100 officials, and we have 17 there,” he said.
“Whatever accommodations they were in, they didn’t get to sleep very well,” Mr. Dick said. “They sound in good spirits. They said they were treated very politely.” If the reduction in embassy staff members includes a significant number of consular officials who process visa applications, it will be more difficult for Venezuelans to get visas to enter the United States.
Mr. Maduro said that embassy officials must now get permission to meet with Venezuelans, saying, “The conspiratorial meetings in Venezuela are over.” He routinely accuses American diplomats of involvement in plots against him, although without offering proof.
He also said that Americans would now have to obtain visas to enter Venezuela and would have to pay a fee equivalent to that paid by Venezuelans to receive visas to the United States.
Moreover, Mr. Maduro moved to retaliate for sanctions, including visa restrictions, recently imposed by the United States against Venezuelan officials accused of involvement in human-rights abuses during antigovernment protests last year.
He said that he would bar from Venezuela “a list of political leaders from the United States who have violated human rights by bombing the people of Iraq, the people of Syria, the people of Vietnam.” He said it was “a terrorist list that will be headed by George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, the ex-C.I.A. chief George Tenet.”
The list, he added, would also include several members of Congress who have been critical of his government, including Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, and Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart, both Republicans from Florida.
Mr. Maduro also appeared to refer to the four American missionaries who were detained on Wednesday in Ocumare de la Costa, a small coastal town west of Caracas, the capital.
“We have captured some Americans engaged in undercover activity,” he said, characterizing the activity as “espionage, trying to win over people in towns on the Venezuelan coast.”
He also said that another American had been “captured” in the western state of Táchira, describing the man only as a pilot of Latino origin.
Glenn Guimond, a spokesman for the American Embassy, said he was “unable to make any comment because we have yet to receive any officials diplomatic communication from the Venezuelan government.”
The four American missionaries flew to Aruba on Saturday morning on their way home, according to Bruce Dick, the pastor of the Bethel Evangelical Free Church in Devil’s Lake, N.D., where they live. Mr. Dick said that the group of missionaries — three men and a woman — had been providing medical aid to the coastal town’s residents and support to a local church.
“That’s our only agenda, it’s not politics at all,” Mr. Dick said. “We have no ill will against the Venezuelan government.”
“They don’t themselves understand,” he said of the reason they were detained. “They were interviewed by the intelligence service. They were interviewed multiple times.”“They don’t themselves understand,” he said of the reason they were detained. “They were interviewed by the intelligence service. They were interviewed multiple times.”
Members of the Devils Lake church have been traveling to Venezuela for 12 years to help build a church in Ocumare de la Costa, which is west of the capital, Caracas. They typically provide medical checkups and often distribute medicine.
“That’s our only agenda,” Mr. Dick said. “It’s not politics at all.”
This time the missionaries left for Venezuela in mid-February. They were working as usual in Ocumare until Wednesday night, when, Mr. Dick said, he got a phone call from a member of the group informing him that they were being detained, apparently by the military or the intelligence police.
“He called to say, ‘This is what’s happening here in the little church in Ocumare, just have people start praying,’ ” Mr. Dick said.
That sent ripples of alarm through the community of relatives and friends back home.
“I think your normal reaction is just some shock and surprise and then like, oh my, a bit of fear,” Mr. Dick said. “We just live in such a great faith community that they just started praying.”
Senator John Hoeven, a Republican of North Dakota, said in a statement that he had asked the State Department to work for the missionaries’ release and that they were reported to be in good health as they left Venezuela.
Officials with the Venezuelan Information Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.