The vice president of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference has told the president of the country that his focus should be on Venezuelans.

|TOP|Monsignor Roberto Luckert criticised President Hugo Chavéz Wednesday, saying he was trying to solve the problems of other countries rather than taking care of Venezuela, reports Efe.

"President Hugo Chávez wants to be a continental leader and is trying to solve all the economic problems facing others, but he is not solving Venezuelans' problems," said Monsignor Luckert, who is also Archbishop of Coro, northwestern Falcón state.

Archbishop Luckert also criticised the move by Venezuela last year to purchase USD 1 billion in Argentine debt last year.

"We have to practice social charity, of course, in order to help the poor, but the President's major responsibility is Venezuelans,” he said. “We do not have to solve the problems for Argentine businessmen, industrialists and politicians who did a poor job in governing that nation.

|QUOTE|Archbishop Luckert stressed that the Catholic Church in Venezuela did not intend to “overthrow governments, but it does have a role in raising an alert and awareness that bad things have to be unveiled”.

Venezuela came under the spotlight last year when President Chávez suddenly ordered a US tribal-focused mission to leave after 90 days.

At the end of 2005, New Tribes Mission was forced to sell its property in the tribal regions, stating that it had “exhausted all efforts to retain the property” located at Tamatama.

“A half century of precious memories are attached to the land. Missionary children grew up there. Missionaries are buried there. Numerous work teams from churches labored to build homes, classrooms and dorms there. It’s hard to lose such a place, but that’s what’s happening,” read a statement on NTM’s website.

"While the missionaries are disappointed in the developments taking place in Venezuela, their greatest concern continues to be for the tribal people. They are the real losers in this contest between governments and ideologies,” the article on NTM’s website read.