As the Organization of American States prepared to meet on Saturday to consider suspending Honduras’s membership from the group, the country’s post-coup Government tried to outflank the regional body by quitting first.

The withdrawal, announced on Honduran television on Friday night, showed the defiance of the new Government, which took power last Sunday after soldiers stormed the residence of President Manuel Zelaya, detained him and put him on a plane to Costa Rica.

It also was a sign of the Government’s increasing isolation, with the United Nations and the OAS condemning the coup as an illegal move that ought to be reversed and many international donors threatening to pull aid from the country.