Venezuela arrests US citizen for post-vote violence

Venezuela has arrested a 35-year-old American filmmaker accused of fomenting post-election violence in the South American country on behalf of the US government.

“I have personally ordered Timothy Tracy’s arrest on suspicion of creating violence in the cities of this country,” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Thursday.

Tracy is accused of paying right-wing youth groups to hold violent demonstrations after Maduro’s election win last week. The Venezuelan Interior Ministry says the he works for US intelligence.

Tracy’s friends and family claim that he has been in Venezuela since last year making a documentary about the confrontation between the country’s opposition and its socialist government.

The US citizen had been detained twice before by Venezuela’s SEBIN intelligence police. The last time was five days before the April 14 presidential election.

Prosecutors say Tracy was detained Wednesday evening as he tried to fly out of Simon Bolivar International Airport in the capital Caracas. He will reportedly be formally charged under Venezuela’s anti-terrorism laws.

Socialist Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner of Venezuela’s presidential election on April 14. He won 50.8 percent of the vote against 49.0 percent for the opposition leader Henrique Capriles.

The defeated candidate refused to recognize Maduro’s victory and called for a march to reach the Electoral National Council headquarters in Caracas and for a general strike the following day.

The Venezuelan president accused the US Embassy in Caracas of promoting the incidents.

He added that the US intervention in Venezuela’s internal affairs in recent months, and particularly during the election campaign, had been “brutal and vulgar.”