US man detained in Venezuela post-vote crackdown; family says he’s innocent filmmaker

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan authorities say they have detained a 35-year-old American man they accuse of paying right-wing youth groups to carry out violence as part of a plan to destabilize the country.

Timothy Hallet Tracy’s family says he is an innocent filmmaker who is in Venezuela making a documentary.

Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres told reporters Thursday that Tracy was presumed to be a spy charged with provoking demonstrations in order to push Venezuela toward a civil war as part of a U.S. plot.

Hallet’s father, Emmet, of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, said the Georgetown University English major had been making his film since last year and already been briefly detained twice. Emmet Hallet said he had warned his son to leave the country in light of the volatile political situation.