Venezuela Frees US Filmmaker

Venezuela freed a US filmmaker it had accused of plotting against the government as top officials from both countries agreed to work to improve strained relations and restore full diplomatic ties.

Timothy Tracy, a U.S. documentary filmmaker, was released from a Venezuelan prison and kicked out of the country, local officials said, more than a month after he was arrested on charges he was a U.S. spy. His lawyer and family have denied those charges. "The gringo, Timothy Tracy, caught spying in our country, has been expelled from national territory," Interior Minister Miguel Rodríguez wrote in a message on his Twitter account confirmed by his spokesman. U.S. and Venezuelan officials said Tracy's liberation helped set a warmer tone for a meeting June 5 between Secretary of State John Kerry and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elías Jaua in Antigua, Guatemala, where both men were attending an Organization of American States conference.