PULLING AWAY

Venezuela to Quit OAS Regional Bloc

Amid pressure over government’s response to protests.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said on Wednesday that the country will quit the Organization of American States over pressure from the bloc about the Venezuelan government’s response to a violent political crisis. “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,” Rodriguez said in a televised address. The OAS, a Washington-based diplomatic grouping, has voiced concern about the state of democracy in Venezuela, where Maduro is resisting calls that he be removed from office. Twenty-eight people have been killed this month alone in anti-government protests.