are there lds missionaries in venezuela

Yes, there are LDS (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) missionaries in Venezuela today, but they are essentially all local/Latin American missionaries rather than missionaries from the United States or other “first-world” countries.

Quick Scoop: LDS Missionaries in Venezuela

Current Missionary Presence

• The Church still operates official missions in Venezuela, such as the Venezuela Caracas and Venezuela Valencia Missions, which continue to function and receive mission presidents and missionaries.

• Recent leadership calls for a new president of the Venezuela Valencia Mission (starting service in late 2025) show that organized missionary work is ongoing in the country.

Who Is (and Isn’t) Serving There

• Non‑Venezuelan, especially U.S. (“gringo”) missionaries, were pulled out years ago due to safety, political, and visa concerns, and they have not generally returned as proselyting missionaries.

• Current missionaries are overwhelmingly Venezuelan or from other Latin American countries, which lets the Church keep missionary work going while minimizing international diplomatic and security complications.

Why Things Changed

• In the mid‑2000s, the Church quietly removed North American missionaries from Venezuela, officially tying it to visa and safety issues during a tense period under President Hugo Chávez.

• Forum and blog discussions later described missionaries traveling in plain clothes and other security‑related restrictions before the withdrawal, suggesting a complex mix of political risk, anti‑U.S. sentiment, and bureaucratic difficulty.

What It Looks Like Today

• The Church continues to maintain stakes, wards, and missions in Venezuela, with local leaders, temples announced or under development, and active proselyting by Venezuelan members called as full‑time missionaries.

• From a member’s or visitor’s perspective inside the country, you can still see missionaries in name tags and standard dress, but they will almost always be Venezuelan or regional Latin American, not U.S. citizens.

TL;DR: Are there LDS missionaries in Venezuela? Yes—local and regional missionaries actively serve in official Venezuelan missions, but U.S./foreign “gringo” missionaries were withdrawn years ago and have not broadly returned.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.