Nicolás Maduro, will be sworn in as President of Venezuela on January 10th, following election results that were highly contested by the opposition.

The Venezuelan government has deployed 1,200 troops across the country to "guarantee peace" before and during the inauguration of Nicolás Maduro for a new presidential term next Friday.

The operation was announced, according to Notícias ao Minuto, by the Strategic Operational Command of the Bolivarian Armed Forces, in a video posted on social media, in which military personnel are seen in various downtown streets and metro stations in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.

"We have started a deployment for the security and peace of our people. We are 1,200 uniformed men and women from the glorious Bolivarian National Armed Force (...) We are going to guarantee the peace of the country, we are going to provide security for the people, we are going to guarantee that on January 10th the president will be sworn in. On the 10th we will take office with him," said Colonel Alexander Granko Arteaga, from the Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (military intelligence), in a video posted on Instagram.

According to Notícias ao Minuto, Colonel Alexander Granko Arteaga also said that the revolution and Venezuela are under threat and that operations have been carried out against mercenaries, with fruitful results.

Venezuela held presidential elections on July 28, after which the National Electoral Council (CNE) awarded victory to current President Nicolás Maduro, with just over 51% of the vote.

The opposition claims that its candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia (currently in exile in Spain), obtained almost 70% of the votes. In addition to the Venezuelan opposition, several countries have denounced electoral fraud and have demanded that the CNE present the voting records for independent verification.

On Thursday, the Venezuelan authorities offered a reward of 100,000 US dollars (97,400 euros) for information on Urrutia's whereabouts.

The election results were contested in the streets, with demonstrations suppressed by the security forces, with the authorities reporting more than 2,400 arrests, 27 deaths and 192 injured.