Venezuela's Vice President Defends Decision to Expel U.S. Missionary Group [View All]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB5R08MREE.html

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela's vice president on Thursday defended a decision to expel a U.S.-based Christian missionary group from the country, saying members of the New Tribes Mission had links to the CIA - a charge the organization strongly denied.

Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel spoke a day after President Hugo Chavez announced he was ordering the group to leave, citing U.S. "imperialist infiltration."

"We have intelligence reports that some of them are CIA," Rangel said. "The president's decision was based on reports that their actions create situations that compromise the country's sovereignty."

Nita Zelenak, a spokeswoman at New Tribes Mission's headquarters in Sanford, Fla., denied any CIA links and said the group knows nothing about "strategic information" that Chavez accused it of gathering.