President Nicolás Maduro will be sworn in for another six years on Friday, and he is hoping to use foreign prisoners to get his way on the global stage.

However, opposition candidate Edmundo González says that he will return to the country and be the one to be sworn in as president

President Nicolás Maduro will extend his increasingly repressive rule over Venezuela until 2031 when he is sworn in on Friday, despite credible evidence that his opponent won the latest election and following protests against his plan to serve a third six-year term.

By Vivian Sequera and Mircely Guanipa CARACAS/MARACAY (Reuters) -Venezuelan opposition parties and their supporters - including leader Maria Corina Machado, who had been in hiding - protested around the country on Thursday in an eleventh-hour effort to put pressure on President Nicolas Maduro,

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, in office since 2013, is due to take the oath of office for a third term Friday despite a global outcry that brought thousands out in protest on the ceremony's eve.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Friday will face more international rebuke than at any time in his 12 years in power.

During her detention, an aide said, Maria Corina Machado “was forced to record several videos.” She has garnered enormous support for her opposition to Nicolás Maduro.

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Maria Corina Machado, a 57-year-old engineer with rock-star appeal, became the fearless figurehead of Venezuela's opposition after being barred from challenging strongman Nicolas Maduro in elections last July.

FILE PHOTO: Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro delivers a speech 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), in Caracas, Venezuela December 14, 2024. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/File Photo

Edmundo González gains Panama's backing for his victory claim in Venezuela against Nicolas Maduro in July's presidential election.