Venezuela announced on Monday that it arrested at least one Israeli “mercenary,” amid reports of dozens of arrests of foreigners in the South American country in recent weeks.

Venezuelan Interior and Justice Minister Diosdado Cabello said that Venezuela arrested “125 mercenaries,” listing 16 nationalities of those detained, including Israel.

“We are going to guarantee peace,” Cabello said, defending the arrests in a press conference aired on regime television station Telesur. “We will be relentless on this issue … No one will stop us from defending the homeland.”

“Those who want violence are going to meet not only the popular military-police, they will find themselves in opposition to the whole people,” he added.

Foreign nationals arrested by Caracas came from the U.S., Peru, Spain, Italy, Uruguay, Ukraine, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Lebanon, Albania, the Netherlands, Israel, Germany, Argentina, Guyana and Yemen.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Venezuela severed diplomatic relations with Israel in 2009.

Venezuela has detained as many as 50 foreigners, including several Americans in recent months, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

The motivation is to use them as bargaining chips to negotiate with the Trump administration for the release of Venezuelans from American prisons, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Iran has used similar tactics, imprisoning foreign nationals and dual citizens as a way to exact concessions from their countries of residence.

Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, who will be inaugurated for his third term on Friday, claimed on Jan. 1 that he is “always ready to turn the pages for relations [with the U.S.] based on respect, dialogue and cooperation.”