Venezuela says it's renouncing its membership in the OAS

Venezuela's government says it will begin withdrawing from the Organization of American States, in reaction to growing international pressure on the socialist-run South American nation.

Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez says President Nicolas Maduro will send a letter Thursday to the Washington-based OAS renouncing its membership in the hemispheric body.

The decision had been expected. It came a short while after envoys to the OAS approved a resolution convening a special meeting of regional foreign ministers to discuss Venezuela's crisis.

Rodriguez says Maduro's administration has been forced to counter what it sees as an attempt by the OAS and conservative regional governments to topple Maduro.

In recent months the OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro has launched a campaign of stinging criticism denouncing violations of democracy in Venezuela.