Sawt Falasteen - Venezuela braces for crunch anti-Maduro protests

After a July election that many believe was stolen, beleaguered opposition leaders have pledged to come out of hiding and exile to lead mass protests and prevent Friday's investiture from going ahead.

Duelling pro- and anti-government demonstrations will take place in Caracas, and how they unfold will help decide the future of Venezuela's nearly 30 million citizens.

Maduro leads a populist left-wing government -- once headed by the late Hugo Chavez -- that has ruled Venezuela a quarter century.

Despite a sustained economic crisis that has seen seven million citizens leave the country, the regime shows no intention of relinquishing power.

On the eve of Thursday's protests, the presidential palace was already flanked by scores of heavily armed security forces.

Ruling party loyalists have also taken to the streets in a blunt warning to their opponents.

Pro-government militiamen have paraded in Caracas brandishing Russian-made assault rifles and on Wednesday, about 3,000 pro-Maduro bikers roared around the capital horns blaring.

"On your knees, gentlemen. The iron horses with Nicolas Maduro!" one biker in jeans and sunglasses shouted as he punched the air with his fist.

Meanwhile opposition parties and NGOs reported a fresh wave of arrests, including Enrique Marquez, a press freedom activist and a politician who ran against Maduro.

Late Wednesday the interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, accused Marquez of being involved in a "coup" attempt against Maduro.

Across Caracas and the country, there are fears that the protests will bring another bloody crackdown and yet more political turmoil.

"The uncertainty persists, as we remain in the same situation, without faith or hope" said Gladis Blanco, just one of the many Venezuelans who crossed the border into Colombia Wednesday to stock up on provisions or flee.

- 'WANTED' -

The opposition has called for "millions" of Venezuelans to demonstrate in support of its exiled presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, whom the United States and several Latin American countries have recognized as the legitimate election winner.

Venezuela-based opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who has been in hiding since the election, has vowed to join the protests.

"I would not miss this historic day for anything in the world," she told AFP in an interview this week.

But it was unclear how many Venezuelans would fall in beside her given the threat of fierce reprisals.

After Maduro claimed election victory in July's election, more than 2,400 people were arrested, while 28 were killed and about 200 injured in protests and riots.

"Wanted" posters offering a $100,000 government reward for the capture of Gonzalez Urrutia have been pasted on street signs.

The 75-year-old opposition candidate is on a tour of Latin American capitals to pressure Maduro to relinquish power.

Earlier this week he met in Washington with US President Joe Biden, who backed a "peaceful transfer back to democratic rule."

He and Machado also held telephone talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, who insisted that the "will of the Venezuelan people must be respected" -- a reference to the opposition's claim of election victory.

Gonzalez Urrutia has voiced tentative plans to fly to Caracas this week to take power but the plan was deemed unlikely to go ahead.

On Wednesday, he handed over the unofficial July 28 voting tallies which the opposition said proved his victory to Panama for safekeeping.

- 'FBI official' arrested -

Maduro, who frequently claims to be the target of US coup plots, meanwhile claimed a senior FBI and a senior US military official were among seven so-called "mercenaries" arrested a day earlier.

He said the two Americans, about whom he gave no further details, were arrested alongside two Colombian "hitmen" and three Ukrainians, all of whom he said were plotting "terrorist acts."

In his comments Wednesday, Cabello said the FBI "gringo" was linked to Marquez, the opposition rival he implicated in the alleged coup plot.

Several civil society and opposition figures have also been rounded up in a week beset with tensions.

The Popular Democratic Front, a coalition of opposition parties, said Marquez, who ran in the July election but later backed Gonzalez Urrutia's victory claim was "arbitrarily detained".

The Espacio Publico press freedom NGO said its director Carlos Correa was detained in central Caracas by "hooded men presumed to be officials."

A day earlier, Gonzalez Urrutia said his son-in-law was detained while taking his children to school. Cabello said he, too, was linked to Marquez.

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro, historically a leftist ally of Maduro, criticized the detentions and said he would not attend Maduro's swearing-in.

Panama's Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha, for his part, described Maduro as a "tyrant."

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B.AbuZeid--SF-PST