CARACAS, Venezuela — Amid growing tensions between the United States and Venezuela, the authorities here detained four American missionaries this week and continued to hold them in custody on Friday, according to family members and news media reports.
The detentions come as President Nicolás Maduro, a leftist, has been stepping up anti-American speech and accusing Washington of backing a coup plot that his government disrupted. Last week the mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, was arrested and charged with taking part in the alleged conspiracy, a charge that his lawyer denies.
The missionaries were affiliated with the Bethel Evangelical Free Church in Devils Lake, N.D., which has been sending missionaries for several years to work with a church in an area near the Caribbean coast west of Caracas, the capital.
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Patricia Torres contributed reporting.
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