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.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday condemned the "unacceptable act of repression" in Venezuela, hours after the brief arrest of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

Sen. RICK SCOTT (R-Fla.) re-introduced his STOP MADURO Act this week to increase the maximum reward amount from $15 million to a maximum of $100 million for information leading to Maduro’s arrest and conviction. Another bipartisan bill would impose additional sanctions on Venezuela and try to pressure a move toward democracy.

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.

The Maduro government says it has arrested at least nine U.S. citizens in the months since Venezuela’s widely discredited presidential election.

Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was freed on Thursday after a brief detention, her Vente Venezuela movement said on social media. Machado was detained after an anti-government march in Caracas,

Machado, a former lawmaker who has spearheaded the opposition to President Nicolas Maduro in recent years, was detained by security agents who shot at motorcycles she was using to leave a protest in Caracas, the capital, according to posts on social media from her party. She was freed about an hour later, according to the party.

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.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday denounced "another unacceptable act of repression" in Venezuela, after an opposition leader was briefly detained when leaving a rally against President Nicolas Maduro.

Aides to Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she was detained Thursday, followed moments later by official denials, in a confusing episode that capped a day of protests seeking to block President Nicolás Maduro from clinging to power.