Venezuela to quit OAS over crisis criticism

Venezuela said Wednesday it was quitting the Organization of American States in anger at pressure from the bloc over the government’s handling of a violent political crisis.

Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said the government would launch a two- year process to pull out of the Washington- based regional diplomatic grouping.

“Tomorrow, as President Nicolas Maduro has instructed, we will present a letter of complaint to the OAS and we will begin a process that will take 24 months,” she said in a televised address.

The OAS and other international authorities have voiced concern about the state of democracy in Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro is resisting opposition pressure to remove him from office.

So far this month, 28 people have been killed, several of them shot, in anti- government protests that have erupted into clashes with riot police.

On Wednesday, the permanent council of the 35- nation OAS upped the ante by taking its discussions about Venezuela to a higher level.

Its members agreed by a majority of 19 to hold a meeting of their foreign ministers to discuss the crisis, the bloc said in a statement.

OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro has previously branded Maduro, an elected socialist, a “dictator” for stifling the opposition.

Maduro’s government has bristled against what it says is international interference in its affairs.