Venezuelan opposition declares end to boycott, agrees to participate in local and state elections

Maduro has played a layered, patient game, dismantling the last democratically elected institution in the country, the opposition-controlled National Assembly, and reconstituting it with allies and more-friendly opponents. The leader, once isolated, has won new allies as the left wing has taken power in nearby countries such as Peru, as European resolve against him has diminished and as the Biden administration has been distracted by the coronavirus pandemic and Afghanistan.