A group called Polo Constitucional, composed of former government ministers, Army colleagues and Assembly members who once allied with Hugo Chavez, are now formally calling on the Venezuelan president to step down. At a Sunday press conference, Luis Alfonso Dávila, former Congress Speaker, former Minister of the Interior and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, read the group’s statement, here in part from El Universal:

“Everything you said before you took office has turned you into an illegitimate president. People suffer from personal insecurity, undermined freedoms, legal and social insecurity; poverty is deepening; public utilities such as water, electricity and garbage collection are a mess. Lack of productivity has led to food shortages, the country’s infrastructure has deteriorated due to the lack of maintenance; the Venezuelan economy is experiencing one of its more serious crisis despite oil prices (…) Corruption has reached obscene levels.”

The group, which urged Venezuelans to keep demonstrating against the regime, added that Chavez “has neither moral nor material authority to rule the country, since he can not meet people’s demands satisfactorily.”

In other Venezuela news, the head of Venezuela’s version of the chamber of commerce, which is probably pretty high on Chavez’s neo-socialist Bolivarian hit list, reportedly has a warrant out for his arrest now. “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. I will stay here in my country. I will keep working,” Noel Álvarez said. The charge? Allegedly promoting a coup. Sure.