Obama, Venezuela Spar Verbally Over Filmmaker

President Barack Obama and Venezuelan officials have been engaged in a war of words regarding a Weho-based documentary filmmaker who faces criminal charges and the postelection political crisis that has engulfed in the oil-rich South American nation.

According to the Associated Press, in an interview Sunday with Spanish-language news network Telemundo

Obama described as "ridiculous" the idea that an American filmmaker detained by Venezuela's government is a spy.

Thirty-five-year-old Timothy Tracy, of West Hollywood, California, was formally charged last week with crimes including conspiracy, association for criminal purposes and use of a false document.

Obama says Tracy's case will be handled like every other in which a U.S. citizen gets into a "legal tangle" while abroad.

The president also said the U.S. hasn't tried "in any way" to interfere with Venezuela's recent elections.

In response to comments Obama made Friday to Univision, the Venezuelan foreign ministry released a statement that said Obama's "'fallacious, intemperate and interventionist declaration' will lead toward deteriorating relations between the countries and 'confirms to the world the policy of aggression his government maintains against our country,'" the AP reported.

In the interview Friday Obama would not recognize the narrowly elected Nicolas Maduro as Venezuela's president and criticized the Venezuelan government for violating basic human rights and democratic principles following the April 14 election.

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