http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N1417322.htmUS rejects Chavez missionary spy charges
CARACAS, Venezuela, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The United States on Friday rejected charges by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that members of a U.S. evangelist group were working as spies and urged authorities to start talks with the missionaries.
Chavez this week ordered the U.S.-based New Tribes Mission expelled from Venezuela after accusing its members of working with the CIA and engaging in "imperialist" infiltration in his latest barrage against the United States.
"I can categorically deny that," U.S. Ambassador to Caracas William Brownfield told reporters when asked about the spy charges. "I still hope we can have direct talks between the mission and the government to resolve their differences."
Chavez's announcement came just days after conservative U.S. preacher Pat Robertson attacked the left-wing Venezuelan leader for the second time this year by accusing him of funding Osama Bin Laden and seeking atomic material from Iran.