Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday announced the arrest of seven foreigners -- including two Americans -- whom he accused of being "mercenaries" trying to prevent him from being sworn-in for another six years in power.

Maduro said the Americans, two Colombian "hitmen" and three "mercenaries" from the war in Ukraine were involved in plotting unspecified "terrorist acts" ahead of his planned inauguration Friday.

"I am sure that in the next few hours they will confess," Maduro said in a broadcast on state television, before declaring a mass deployment of police and military across the country.

The announcement of Americans being detained came just hours after President Joe Biden welcomed exiled Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia in the United States.

During the meeting, Biden backed a "peaceful transfer back to democratic rule" in Venezuela and warned against further repression inside the country.

The United States and several of Venezuela's democratic neighbours believe Gonzalez Urrutia won a July presidential election by a landslide and that official results were falsified.

The opposition has called for "millions" of........

© International Business Times