Venezuela detains American accused of fomenting violence
Venezuela detains American accused of fomenting violence
By Brian Ellsworth
CARACAS | Thu Apr 25, 2013 2:17pm EDT
(Reuters) - Venezuela has detained an American citizen it says was financing opposition student demonstrations after this month's disputed presidential election, the latest in a flurry of accusations over last week's post-vote violence.
Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez said Timothy Hallet Tracy had been seeking to destabilize the country on behalf of an unnamed U.S. intelligence agency after President Nicolas Maduro's narrow presidential victory.
"We detected the presence of an American who began developing close relations with these (students)," said Rodriguez in a press conference. "His actions clearly show training as an intelligence agent, there can be no doubt about it. He knows how to work in clandestine operations."
Rodriguez said Tracy, 35, from Michigan, had received financing from a foreign non-profit organization and had redirected those funds toward student organizations. The ultimate aim was to provoke "civil war," he said
A U.S. embassy official had no immediate comment.
More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/25/us-venezuela-usa-idUSBRE93O0ZU20130425
= new reply since forum marked as read
For a documentary film maker, there sure is precious little about him on the web prior to his apprehension for subversive activities. Actually, make that absolutely NOTHING on the web about him prior to this arrest. I did a thorough search of his name prior to April 23 and there was zilch, nado, zip, nothing.
But since, post-arrest, they link him to the Homeland Security Propaganda film "Under Siege", let's look at it lol!
Rodriguez said Tracy, 35, from Michigan, had received financing from a foreign nonprofit organization and had redirected those funds toward student organizations. The ultimate aim was to provoke "civil war," he said.
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.
Tracy's family says he is an innocent filmmaker who is in Venezuela making a documentary, The Associated Press reported. Tracy's father, Emmet, of Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., said the Georgetown University English major had been making his film since last year and already been briefly detained twice.
A U.S. embassy official had no immediate comment.
http://news.msn.com/world/venezuela-detains-american-accused-of-fomenting-violence
Opposition supporters and students cross a barricade during clashes with riot police in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
...
President Nicolas Maduro said Thursday that he personally ordered Timothy Tracy's arrest on suspicion of "creating violence in the cities of this country." Venezuela's interior minister said Tracy was working for U.S. intelligence, paying right-wing youth groups to hold violent demonstrations in order to destabilize the country after Maduro's narrow election win last week.
Friends and family of Tracy told The Associated Press that he had been in Venezuela since last year making a documentary about the country, which is bitterly divided politically as the socialist heirs of the late President Hugo Chavez struggle to maintain control of a country beset by economic and political turmoil
The Georgetown University English graduate was a story consultant on the 2009 documentary "American Harmony," about competitive barbershop quartet singing, and produced the recent Discovery Channel program "Under Siege," about terrorism and smuggling across the U.S./Canada border.
...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/25/timothy-hallet-tracy-detained-venezuela_n_3157142.html?utm_hp_ref=world
Money, guns and drugs pour across America’s northern border into the United States every day. Even more terrifying, many consider our northern border to be the focal point for illegal crossings by individuals with ties to terrorist organizations. Charged with protecting our borders is the Department of Homeland Security, and nowhere is their job more challenging than along the 863-mile stretch of water on either side of Detroit’s Ambassador Bridge. Here, thousands of landing spots, narrow crossings and tremendous boat traffic make this newly explosive region nearly impossible to patrol. It’s up to the brave men and women of the DHS, armed with latest technology, to patrol the water, guard the checkpoints and track down the criminals in order to stem the tide and keep our country safe from foreign threats.
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/under-siege
The documentary "Under Siege" was produced by TIJAT:
In TV, TIJAT is currently producing 12 shows for a wide variety of networks including History, Nat Geo, CNN, Travel, Animal Planet, Oxygen, G4/Esquire, AMC, Spike. Most recently, our History series “Big Rig Bounty Hunters” rated as the #2 factual show of the night for 8 consecutive weeks. In partnership with United States Homeland Security, TIJAT produced “Under Siege” for Discovery, a look inside border terrorism and smuggling.
http://www.tijat.com/about/
Timothy Hallet Tracy, "Story Consultant"
You already had this brilliant insight that your reading of what the minister said cannot be true.
Here is the link to the story:
http://www.sibci.gob.ve/2013/04/mij-muestra-evidencias-de-planes-de-desestabilizacion-en-venezuela/
This is the exact quote:
Now get a fucking dictionary.
Muchos dolares, baby:
Dear Reuters: Is this enough “proof” for you?
April 26, 2013 — Sabina Becker
Dear Reuters: You fail so hard at journalism…
Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez said Timothy Hallet Tracy had been seeking to destabilize the country on behalf of an unnamed U.S. intelligence agency after President Nicolas Maduro’s narrow presidential victory.
...
A U.S. embassy official had no immediate comment.
The government has given scant evidence for a flurry of headline-grabbing accusations ranging from an assassination plot against Maduro to alleged sabotage of the electricity grid.
:http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2013%2F4%2F26%2Fworldupdates%2Fvenezuela-detains-american-accused-of-fomenting-violence
…because this is the real story, and your version is laughable even on the surface of it:
From his headquarters in the capital city, the minister showed that the North American has very close relations with the youths of “Operation Sovereignty”, and had managed to infiltrate revolutionary groups at the same time as he maintained intimate relations with the Venezuelan right-wing.
...
Also, Timothy Hallet received foreign financing, which was later passed on to the youth from the parties of the Venezuelan extreme right to generate violent actions throughout the land, and “to lead us toward a civil war,”, the minister added.
“We have the documents proving that they exchanged (information) by way of some chips, which the messenger brought from the Plaza La Castellana to the home of the ‘gringo’, a term used to identify him from other sites where these kids had direct communications with him,” the minister said.
http://www.aporrea.org/actualidad/n227641.html
...
BTW, O Reuters gurus, I have your “scant evidence” right here. And, spoiler alert, it ain’t so “scant”:
&feature=player_embedded
You’ll have to wait till the 6:50 mark or thereabouts, but yeah, the proof is there, and yeah, it’s substantial. Video evidence that Tim Tracy has been meeting with the druggy, drinky, dollar-hungry JAVU punks whose terrorist manifesto I've already translated and discussed HERE (http://www.sabinabecker.com/2013/04/terrorism-and-destabilization-in-venezuela-all-you-can-eat.html). That’s one of 500 videos shot by the perps themselves, all taken into custody by the SEBIN agents as evidence of their plot. JAVU and Tracy are, in short, thoroughly fucked. As is a certain ex-general who also appears in the video, advising the punks on how to organize:
...
Hey, Reuters? Maybe you should learn some Spanish. And maybe learn journalism too, while you’re at it. At the very least, try learning how not to sleep through a fucking press conference. Okay?
http://www.sabinabecker.com/2013/04/dear-reuters-is-this-enough-proof-for-you.html
US Citizen Arrested in Venezuela in Connection with Destabilization Plans
By Adam Marshall
Murcia, April 26th 2013 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan security forces have arrested a US national in connection with an alleged plot to “violently destabilize the country” following the April elections, Minister for Internal Affairs, Miguel Torres announced yesterday.
Speaking before the Venezuelan press, Torres presented a series of slides outlining opposition plans to “not recognize” the election results, “generate a spiral of violence” in order “to destabilize and discredit the government", creating the conditions for a “civil war” leading to “foreign intervention”.
Termed by the authorities the “April Connection”, the plot came to the attention the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) at the end of 2012, the minister said.
The detainee was identified as Timothy Hallet Tracy, a 35-year old male from Michigan, USA. Tracy is suspected by the authorities of channeling money to right wing opposition youth groups in the country.
"Hallet started forming very close relationships with the young opponents who are in an operation called 'sovereignty' ... We saw how this man could also infiltrate revolutionary groups to earn their protection, but he was intimately connected with the extreme right”, Torres said.
"Judging from the way this gentleman behaved, we presume that he belongs to some intelligence organization, because he is trained and he knows how to infiltrate, and how to handle sources and security information," Torres continued.
Since his arrest, US media sources have quoted family and friends of Tracy denying that he is a spy. The sources quoted insist that he is a filmmaker who was in Venezuela to shoot a documentary about the “political divide” in the country.
“They don’t have a CIA agent in custody. They don’t have a journalist in custody. They have a kid with a camera,” said Aengus James, a friend and associate of Tracy’s in Hollywood, California. “He does not really know what he’s doing,” he added.
Video Evidence
The minister also presented two videos he said were obtained during investigations into the plot. The first one shows a group of young people talking about money and seemingly referring to their involvement in violent acts.
“To activate Santa Cruz and Miranda we need a billion dollars”, said one of the youngsters, clearly using drugs at the time. “No way... why would you need so much money?” asks another. “Could we have raised four states without the 100 million bolivars?” responds the first rhetorically.
The second video shows Antonio Rivera, a retired army general giving tactical advice to young protesters in Caracas on 15 April.
“They can remove the stones, bottles, sticks from you etc etc...like a shield, the old-fashioned way...but yes, stay cohesive, integrated, united. Don´t try to disperse... if you disperse collapse," Rivera is heard saying in the video.
At the end of the video Rivera tells the protesters to “keep everything you do under the directionality of Capriles”.
These revelations come the day after Venezuelan Attorney General, Luisa Ortega Díaz, informed that the violent events which took place on 15 April and 16 April, after the general election, left 9 dead and 78 injured.
In a press conference on Wednesday she explained how the events originated as a result of “irresponsible calls” by some political actors to act against people and institutions in the country.
“On 14 April, the elections to elect the president of the republic were held in Venezuela, and after the governing body (National Electoral Council) issued the results, there were calls made through some media and networks like Twitter and others, by direct and subliminal messages, encouraging citizens to take street actions; hostile actions and contrary to the law, which led a sector of the public to attack another sector of the population," Ortega Diaz recalled.
Today, after rejecting the forthcoming CNE election audit as a “joke”, Capriles called on his supporters to march again on 1 May to “challenge the election” he claims was “stolen”.
Bolivarian Socialist Workers' Central general coordinator Carlos Lopez told media that over half a million Chavistas are expected to march on May Day, and expressed fears that the opposition intends to create violence.
Published on Apr 26th 2013 at 6.32pm
This work is licensed under a Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives Creative Commons license
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/8868
@USAToday: American "gringo" filmmaker released from Venezuela prison
https://twitter.com/USATODAY/status/342298705560485889
Nice goodwill gesture by the Venezuelan government.
as they found out he was involved, along with Joseph F. Kennedy II in arranging deeply discounted Venezuelan heating oil to Massachusetts limited income constituents since 2005!
Jailed US filmmaker freed in Venezuela, expelled
Associated Press
Posted on June 5, 2013 at 12:32 PM
Updated today at 1:05 PM
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A U.S. filmmaker jailed for alleged espionage in Venezuela was expelled from the country and returning to the United States on Wednesday in a gesture that could signal a thaw in tense relations between the two countries.
Timothy Tracy's release was secured with the help of former U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, who has long worked to improve often strained U.S.-Venezuelan ties and was hired by Tracy's family as an attorney in the case.
"He's been informally advising us since pretty much the onset and we retained him last week," Tracy's sister, Tiffany Klaasen, said of Delahunt, a member of the U.S. delegation at the March funeral of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Both she and Delahunt also credited the U.S. State Department.
Tracy's expulsion came just as Secretary of State John Kerry was to meet with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua on the sidelines of a regional summit in Guatemala to discuss strained relations between the two countries, which have been without ambassadors since 2010.
Delahunt acknowledged the coincidence of Tracy's release but said "no conditions" were set by Kerry for the meeting with Jaua.
He said he had intervened on Tracy's behalf with officials in Venezuela — who he said did not include President Nicolas Maduro — but "I want to keep those discussions private."
"On both sides there is a desire to have an improvement in the relationship based upon respect, and that's what's important," Delahunt said, suggesting it might help that Kerry, then a Massachusetts senator, met Maduro a decade ago when Delahunt took a delegation of Venezuelans including Maduro on a trip to his district in Cape Cod.
More:
http://www.khou.com/news/world/210225701.html
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William Delahunt, Joseph F. Kennedy II, Jr. formally accept Venezuelan winter heating oil,
from CITGO representative, Felix Rodriguez, initiating a needed assistance program for constituents. [/center]
Venezuela-CITGO Assists Massachusetts with Heating Oil; Plans for Targeted Programs in Other U.S. Cities
Boston, MA – As promised by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, CITGO joined today with the U.S. Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Members of the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation such as U.S. Representatives Bill Delahunt and Joseph P. Kennedy II, local energy companies and low-income communities to launch the first of what will be a targeted program of heating oil assistance in Boston, New York and possibly other U.S. cities.
This humanitarian aid will serve over 40,000 low-income households in the state of Massachusetts as well as several hundred institutions such as hospitals, day care centers, homeless shelters and schools.
“CITGO is not just another oil company. With Venezuela’s state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), of which we are a subsidiary, we share a broad social mission,” said CITGO C.E.O Felix Rodriguez. “We are thankful to have found a partner in Massachusetts Representative Bill Delahunt, who helped build the arrangement with Citizens Energy Corporation and the MassEnergy Consumers Alliance that made this project a reality.”
This humanitarian program by Venezuela and Venezuelan-owned CITGO is a response to the emergency caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which has resulted in fuel shortages and high prices. This humanitarian aid will provide 12 million gallons of heavily discounted heating oil for distribution to low-income communities across the state. Consumers will save between 60-80 cents/gallon, for a total savings of $10-14 million this winter. Venezuela supplies virtually all of the oil used for heating in the United States.
The official launch took place at the home of Linda and Paul Kelly, who qualify as recipients of the program and will be served by Citizens Energy Corporation. Rep. Delahunt, who is the leading Democrat on the House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, and Rep. Edward Markey, a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, helped deliver the first load of fuel oil to the Kellys.
More:
http://www.embavenez-us.org/news.php?nid=2093
[center] ~ ~ ~ ~ ~[/center]
Venezuela to expand cut-rate home heating oil to U.S.
By Andrew Miga
Associated Press
WASHINGTON --Venezuela will expand its discounted oil program for poor New Englanders next winter under a politically sensitive new deal brokered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., and former Massachusetts congressman Joseph Kennedy. The flow of additional cut-rate oil to the Northeast and other states would be a boon to low-income families as energy prices continue to soar.
"It will be a considerable expansion," said Delahunt, of Quincy, on Tuesday. He helped to broker the original deal with Venezuela to bring cut-rate oil to needy Americans this past winter. Chavez also agreed to steer aid towards redeveloping poor U.S. neighborhoods and similar projects as part of a new social fund, Delahunt added, but the Venezuelan leader did not elaborate. Houston-based Citgo Petroleum Corp., a subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, had discount heating oil programs last winter in Massachusetts, New York, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont, Connecticut, Delaware and the Philadelphia area. Citgo last winter provided nearly 40 million gallons of discounted oil for some 181,000 households and hundreds of homeless shelters, according to the company.
But the new arrangement is also likely to stoke controversy since Chavez is one of President Bush's harshest critics. Relations between the two nations are tense. Some Republicans have complained the oil program is more about scoring political points than charity for Chavez. "A hidden agenda? You people know we don't have one," Chavez said Monday in Venezuela. The Democratic congressman also dismissed such criticisms. "Let's not continue to indulge in sandbox diplomacy," Delahunt said. "Let's try to tamp down the rhetoric."
Chavez agreed to make more cheaper oil available during a two-hour meeting on Monday in Venezuela, Delahunt said, but no details were provided on how much. "He committed to an expansion both in terms of the gallons as well as the geographic," said Delahunt of Chavez. "I'm looking at the news and there is $3.50 per gallon gas. Now is the time to do it." U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., also participated in the session with Chavez, said Delahunt. Kennedy heads the Boston-based nonprofit Citizens Energy Corp., which helped deliver the oil in seven of the eight states the program served. "This is a moment for other oil companies to emulate what Citgo is doing," Delahunt said. "You can just imagine what their profits will look like at the end of this quarter. Now is the time for Big Oil to stand up and do it."
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_262.cfm
Venezuela donates more heating oil to U.S. poor
Thu Jan 12, 2006 6:46 PM ET
[center] ~ ~ ~ ~ ~[/center]
By Jason Szep
WINDHAM, Maine, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Venezuela expanded a controversial program on Thursday of subsidizing costly home-heating oil for the U.S. poor with a pact in Maine, upping the ante in a political brawl with President George W. Bush.
The donations deepen an ongoing spat between oil-rich Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bush, who calls Chavez a threat to democracy in Latin America. Socialist Chavez says Bush is trying to undermine his political support.
Venezuela, where per capita income is about 1/10th that of the United States, donated 8 million gallons (36 million litres) of heating oil at a 40 percent discount to Maine, the third northeastern U.S. state to receive what Venezuela calls its "humanitarian aid."
"This helps Chavez portray America as fundamentally weak," said Bruce Everett, a former executive with the Exxon Mobil Corp who teaches petroleum economics at the Fletcher School at Tufts University in Massachusetts.
More:
http://www.redorbit.com/news/general/355895/venezuela_donates_more_heating_oil_to_us_poor/
