Opponents of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday decried a worsening crackdown 48 hours before he is to be sworn in following elections he is widely accused to have stolen.

Venezuelan opposition parties and NGOs decried the arrests of a prominent press freedom activist and a well-known opposition figure, among others, ahead of planned protests against Friday's inauguration of President Nicolas Maduro for his third term.

Venezuela's leader Nicolás Maduro announced on state television on 7 January the arrest of seven foreigners whom he accused of being "mercenaries", allegedly trying to prevent him from taking the presidential oath.

Venezuela’s government has unleashed a fresh wave of repression as the opposition plans nationwide protests to denounce Nicolás Maduro’s inauguration as president this week.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro looks on during a meeting of leaders of the member states of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America and the Treaty of Commerce and Promotion (ALBA-TCP),

The democratic opposition, led by María Corina Machado, has led a courageous and peaceful campaign against Maduro’s fraud, providing evidence via copies of official tally sheets from polling stations to show that opposition candidate Edmundo González won the election by a margin of more than two to one.

Fearing that opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez will return to Venezuela this week as promised, strongman Nicolás Maduro has mobilized the country’s military, sending soldiers to patrol the streets in major cities and carrying out new arrests of opponents or individuals he calls mercenaries.