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

An opposition presidential rival and a press freedom activist were among the latest to be detained, their teams said, amid reports of critics being rounded up and spirited away by hooded men.

Meanwhile Maduro, who frequently claims to be the target of US destabilization plots, said senior FBI and American military officials were among seven so-called "mercenaries" arrested on Tuesday.

Opposition parties reported on social media a wave of fresh arrests ahead of mass anti-Maduro protests called for Thursday -- the eve of Maduro's inauguration to a third six-year term rejected by much of the international community as illegitimate.

The Popular Democratic Front, a coalition of opposition parties, said Enrique Marquez -- who had run against Maduro in last year's July 28 elections -- was "arbitrarily detained" Tuesday.

Marquez supported the victory claim of the main opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, whom the United States, European Union and many of Venezuela's democratic neighbors recognize as........

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