Timothy Tracy was a little-known filmmaker until he was thrown into the international spotlight by the Venezuelan government and accused of working for US intelligence.

President Nicolás Maduro ordered Tracy's detention on Thursday on suspicions that the 35-year-old American had channelled US money to student protestors and instigated violent protests in the wake of the presidential election earlier this month.

Citing more than 500 videos as evidence, interior minister Miguel Rodríguez Torres said he had ample proof that Tracy was involved in seditious activities.

President Maduro said Tracy had visited several cities to promote violence and said that he personally ordered his arrest on suspicion of "creating violence in the cities of this country". But friends and associates dispute the claim that he was fomenting unrest.

Tracy, a graduate of Georgetown University, reportedly arrived in Venezuela almost two years ago to make a film about the political situation. According to the Associated Press, he had been a story consultant on the 2009 documentary American Harmony, about competitive barbershop quartet singing, and produced the recent Discovery Channel program Under Siege, about terrorism and smuggling across the US-Canada border, as well the History Channel series Madhouse, on modified race-car drivers in North Carolina.

A close acquaintance and fellow film-maker, Tuki Jencquel, said Tracy often discussed the progress on his Venezuela project, which sought to portray both sides of the conflict.

As well as filming anti-government student groups, Jencquel said Tracy spent equal amounts of time working with the colectivos, a group of vigilante-type men who live in the 23 de Enero neighborhood, known for their fervent support of the late President Chávez.

The students he interviewed have denied any wrongdoing. Gaby Arellano, a member of the Operacion Soberania student group, told the Guardian she only met Tracy once, when he interviewed her during a protest to demand information on the health of Chávez.

"He said he was doing a documentary about the political situation here so I told him we were gathered there to demand that the constitution be abided by. We did nothing illegal", Arellano said. "He is being used as a scapegoat to cover the real problems that this country faces."

US intelligence agencies have a long history of involvement in Latin America. Washington has had a fractious relationship with Caracas, since Chávez and, then Maduro, came to power. A US embassy cable, recently disclosed by WikiLeaks, reveals that the US political objectives in Venezuela in 2004 were "penetrating Chávez' political base" and "diving Chavismo."

But whether that involves publilcy funding civil rights groups or secretly instigating unrest is disputed, prompting suspicion and paranoia. Maduro – and, before him, Chávez – have accused the US of trying to destabilise  the Venezuelan government, which has control of the world's biggest untapped oil resources.

Two US embassy officials were expelled in early March, accused of similar claims by President Maduro. The United States government has repeatedly denied such allegations.

"The United States continues categorically to reject any allegations of US government efforts to destabilize the Venezuelan government or to harm anyone in Venezuela," said State Department spokesman William Ostick.

"Tensions in Venezuelan society result from the fact that there was an extremely close election."

He said consular officials were trying to assist Tracy, who faces terrorism charges at a court hearing on Friday.

Prosecutors said the filmmaker was arrested on Thursday as he tried to fly out of Simón Bolívar international airport outside Caracas.

Tracy's father Emmet, of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, told the Associated Press that his son had asked for some air miles so he could fly to the United States to be with him for his 80th birthday. The family had urged Tracy to leave the country in light of the volatile political situation.

"Frankly it's the kind of scenario that we were concerned about and kept telling him," Emmet Tracy said.