After 16 years of rubber-stamp impotence, Venezuela's opposition plans to use its overwhelming electoral victory to free political prisoners -- including its most charismatic leader -- and offer President Nicolás Maduro six months to take painful economic steps or face removal.
The victory by the opposition coalition set the stage for further confrontation and could energize a movement aiming to remove Maduro from power before the end of his term in 2019. The result also marked a turning point for the "revolution" launched 16 years ago by the late Hugo Chávez.
When Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro closed the border with Colombia, he did it from the presidential palace hundreds of miles away. On the ground, supervising deportations and local officials, was the country's iron-fisted chief lawmaker, Diosdado Cabello.
