A U.S. filmmaker has been arrested in Venezuela on charges that he was there to incite a civil war after national elections to elect the successor of Hugo Chavez on April 14. Here are two articles on the arrest of Timothy Hallet Tracy – both which refer to how the movie Argo may be hurting Tracy’s cause.
One from Argentina’s La Nacion, sees the arrest as a sign that Chavez’ heir Nicolas Maduro is coming unglued trying to fill his old boss’ shoes. The other, from Venezuela’s Apporea, lays out a case that Tracy appears is a typical CIA/NSA/DHS/Mossad plant, based on apparently mistaken information supplied by the Associated Press, and on the history of espionage, which involves the regular use by spies disguised as journalists and filmmakers.
First, an editorial from Argentina’s La Nacion headlined Magical Surrealism’ and the Arrest of Timothy Hallet Tracy, likens the news to a movie script and suggest that that nation’s new president, Nicolas Maduro, is losing his composure and making up stories in a struggle to fill the shoes of Hugo Chavez:
The magical surrealism of Venezuela these days is the latest chapter in the Bolivarian Revolution, this time with a new protagonist: Timothy Hallet Tracy, alias, “El Gringo.” According to the Nicolas Maduro government, the Michigan director is a dangerous conspirator who sought to incite a “civil war” after the April 14 elections.
Directed by the filmmaker, operation The April Connection … “included the triggering of foci of violence that would lead to civil war, the aim of which was to generate a spiral of violence that would delegitimize the government. So we acted to bring peace,” said one very convinced minister, who also tied Tracy, 35, directly to the student movement. The ultimate aim of the scheme set in motion by “El Gringo” would have been “the intervention of a foreign power in the country.”
Then from Argentina’s Aporrea, in an article headlined Timothy Hallet Tracy: U.S. Spy or ‘Filmmaker’? … You Be the Judge, columnist Ivana Cardinale pulls together apparent inconsistencies from the Internet and Associated Press reports to conclude that Tracy’s identity as a spy is almost beyond question. Cardinale writes in part:
When does an innocent filmmaker go to a country without a film crew? To our knowledge, Tim Tracy was alone in Venezuela.
On the other hand, the alleged arrested filmmaker, as the Associated Press reported on Thursday, is also said to have directed and produced a documentary called Under Siege. But this is a lie, because again, the man who made that film was Aengus James. The film was shot along the Canadian border with Department of Homeland Security agents who work “in the civilian sphere to protect the United States both inside and outside its borders.” The aim of this agency is to “prepare for, prevent and respond to national emergencies, particularly terrorism.”
As I said, the documentary Under Siege was released last month on the Discovery Channel – and filmed at the Canadian border with DHS agents. So – let us suppose Tracy works on documentaries, and if so, in Under Siege, he worked hand-in-hand with DHS agents.
As we know, agents of the CIA, NSA, Mossad, etc., have agents who are disguised and have a thousand ways of entering countries undetected: as filmmakers, journalists, mountain climbers, and even diplomats.
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