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.

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),

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 exiled opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia has urged the Venezuelan military to recognize him as their commander-in-chief and “put an end to the leadership” of President Nicolás Maduro,

Pedro Mario Burelli, a veteran Venezuelan political operative and an opponent of Mr. Maduro’s movement, called the visit part of an effort to “freak him out” — to scare Mr. Maduro into believing that the global political tide is increasingly turning against him.

Opposition leader Edmundo González met with President Biden on Monday at the White House to ask for the United States’ support ahead of his announced plans to travel to Venezuela this week to be sworn as the South American country’s next president,

Edmundo González Urrutia is trying to bolster international support before Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro is sworn in Friday.