Leaders of seven indigenous groups submitted a statement to Gaurulla's office opposing Chavez's decision.

"We request justice and the right to decide our own future. ... We demand that we be consulted before any decision," it said. "This is not a fight against the government but a sign of our disagreement with the decision by the president."

The New Tribes Mission, which has about 160 missionaries in Venezuela, was founded in 1942, specializes in evangelism among indigenous groups and has 3,200 workers worldwide in 17 nations.

The controversy has overshadowed Chavez's efforts to grant collective property titles to indigenous communities. He made the threat two weeks ago while granting 10 land titles for more than 865,000 acres to indigenous communities in the southern Venezuelan state of Apure.

Chavez has said that defending the rights of Venezuelan's approximately 300,000 indigenous people is a priority. He oversaw the adoption of a new constitution in 1999 that recognizes their collective ownership of ancestral lands and allows them to participate in demarcating territory.

But poverty remains acute among many Indian communities, and many protesters said the missionaries were the only people who have tangibly improved their lives.

Chavez's action against the New Tribes missionaries has raised tensions between some church groups and Chavez's government, which is closely allied with communist-led Cuba and frequently critical of the United States.