Venezuela says it has arrested an American intelligence agent who was trying to foment violence.  Friends say they have a “kid with a camera”.

President Nicolas Maduro says he personally ordered the arrested of 35-year old Timothy Tracy of California has he tried to leave Venezuela via Simon Bolivar International Airport outside the capital, Caracas.

He is accused of paying right-wing youth groups to hold violent demonstrations in order to destabilize the country after Maduro’s narrow election win last week.

Tracy’s friends and family say he has been in Venezuela for about a year, making a documentary about the country.

“They don’t have CIA 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, adding that he didn’t believe Tracy had a political agenda in any direction.

Tensions have been rising in Venezuela since the death of President Hugo Chavez, and seemed to explode after the special election that saw Chavez’s hand-picked successor Maduro beat the conservative challenger Enrique Capriles by a very narrow margin.