Four Famous Cases of Americans Accused of Espionage

April 29, 2013— -- Timothy Tracy must be going through some tough times right now.

The 35-year-old filmmaker from Hollywood, California, was arrested in Venezuela on Wednesday just as he was leaving the country.

Tracy was apparently in Venezuela to make a documentary. But he is being accused by the Venezuelan government of giving payments to "radical" opposition groups, and of carrying out plans to destabilize the highly divided country.

Curiously, Tracy is not the first American to experience such an incident. Here are some stories of Americans who have been accused of espionage and similar acts in countries that are not friendly with the U.S. Some were quickly released through diplomatic negotiations, and others had to spend years in foreign jails. One of the members of this notorious club still lingers in a Cuban jail.

Two Journalists in North Korea

In March 2009, Euna Lee and Laura Ling were working on a documentary about North Koreans who escape to China, for Current TV. After briefly crossing from China into North Korea to film some images, the journalists were captured by North Korean guards who had chased them into the Chinese side of the border. The journalists were then taken deep into the hermit kingdom, where they were accused of entering the country illegally, and of taking "hostile" actions against North Korea.

Lee and Ling were sentenced to 12 years in forced labor by a North Korean court. But they were released six months into their ordeal thanks to a series of discrete diplomatic negotiations, which culminated with a meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, and Bill Clinton, who acted a special envoy for President Obama.

The American Hikers in Iran

In July 2009, Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were working in Iraq's Kurdistan region, where locals suggested that they visit a waterfall that was close to the border with Iran.

The three Americans hiked towards the waterfall, which was located in a remote mountain range, and were arrested by Iranian border guards, who accused them of crossing illegally into the Islamic Republic.

Shourd spent a year in jail and was released on humanitarian grounds in 2010, as she was going through serious health complications. Bauer and Fattal had to stay in prison in Iran. In August 2011, they were convicted of espionage and entering the country illegally, and received eight-year prison sentences.

Curiously however, the Iranian government decided to release Bauer and Fattal, just a month after their sentences had been handed out to them by courts, claiming it was taking a humanitarian action. The release of the American hikers also occurred after the government of Oman interceded on their behalf, and made bail payments of $465,000 for the freedom of each hiker. Oman has good relations with Iran and the U.S.

Alan Gross in Cuba

In 2009, Alan Gross made five trips to Cuba, in which he delivered satellite phones, computers and Internet equipment to Jewish community groups on the island.

This was all part of a democracy program, funded by USAID, for which Gross was working as a subcontractor. But Cuba said Gross never had the appropriate permits to bring large amounts of communications equipment into the island. Gross was arrested during his last trip to Cuba in December 2009, and accused of espionage.

In 2011, Gross was convicted of committing acts against "the independence or the territorial integrity" of Cuba, a crime that is less serious than espionage. But he was still handed a 15-year prison sentence, which he is currently serving in a Cuban jail.

Diplomatic efforts -- and even a promise to exchange Gross for a Cuban citizen convicted of espionage in the U.S. -- have not managed to secure Gross' release. The Cuban government says that Gross never identified himself as a USAID contractor during his trips to the island, posing instead as a member of a Jewish charity group.

A U.S. "Mercenary" in Venezuela

In August 2012, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced that a U.S. "mercenary" had been caught on a bus that was coming in from Colombia. The detainee's name was at first not revealed by Chavez, who said only that he was a former U.S. Marine who was planning to conduct "destabilizing" activities in Venezuela.

An investigation by Univision eventually found that this so-called "mercenary" was 30-year-old Eduardo Acosta Mejia, a U.S. citizen of Dominican origin. Mejia was indeed a former Marine. But he had no plan to destabilize Venezuela. He had actually escaped from a Colombian jail where he was serving a small drug trafficking sentence, and was trying to escape from that country's law enforcement officers.

Three months after Chavez called him a "mercenary," Mejia was flown back to Colombia, along with two other drug traffickers from that country.

So What Are Tracy's Chances of Coming Back Home?

Tim Tracy is no spy according to his father and friends in the U.S., who told the AP that he was just making a documentary about Venezuela's political divisions. But the Venezuelan government says it has videos, which show young members of opposition groups asking Tracy for money, so that they can carry out violent protests in the country.

Whether he is guilty or not, one thing is for sure. At this moment, it is quite convenient for the Venezuelan government to have Tracy around for a show trial.

Venezuela is facing a serious crisis right now, in which opposition politicians are claiming that the April 14 presidential election was stolen by the country's socialist government. The opposition, which has the support of at least half of Venezuela's population, wants a thorough audit of the votes, and says that Nicolás Maduro, the socialist candidate and the successor to Hugo Chávez, is an illegitimate president.

Maduro has tried to undermine these claims by saying that his country is under attack. He says that calls for a recount of the votes, and protests which broke out all over the country after the election results were announced, are all part of a U.S. led plot to destabilize the country, and generate the conditions for a coup.

But in order to sustain such claims Maduro must produce some evidence of such plots. And what better evidence than a real life U.S. citizen, who is said to be part of the plot?

Tracy could come back home eventually, but like in the cases of the Current TV journalists in North Korea, or the American hikers in Iran, his release will probably involve much international campaigning, and a hefty dose of diplomatic negotiations. For the moment, he'll probably have to stay in Venezuela and face a trial in which the odds are heavily stacked up against him.