Three people have died during clashes on the first day of an opposition-led strike against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, the state prosecutor's office said.
At least 106 people have died in total during anti-government unrest in the South American OPEC nation since the opposition launched protests in April demanding elections to end nearly two decades of socialist rule.
Many streets around Venezuela remained barricaded and deserted during the second day of an opposition-led shutdown, which began yesterday.
The strike aims to pressure the president into cancelling a controversial vote for a new congress at the weekend.
Adversaries say the ruling Socialist Party wants to consolidate dictatorship with a sham vote for the super-congress that will have the power to rewrite the constitution and shutdown the existing opposition-led legislature.
Faced also with intense international pressure including the threat of US economic sanctions, Mr Maduro says he is going ahead with Sunday's election for the Constituent Assembly as the only way to empower the people and bring peace to Venezuela.
The Venezuelan prosecutor's office said a 23-year-old man died in western Merida state, while a 16-year-old boy died in the poor Caracas neighbourhood of Petare during clashes between security forces and young masked protesters yesterday.
That added to the previously announced death of a 30-year-old man, also in mountainous Merida state.
Mr Maduro has branded US sanctions levelled at his regime "illegal, insolent and unprecedented".
The Trump administration imposed the sanctions on senior Venezuelan officials over the president’s controversial plan to elect a new body to rewrite the constitution on Sunday.
The sanctions target 13 current and former officials, including the interior minister, senior military brass, the president of the electoral council, and the finance chief of state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA).
US President Donald Trump has spared Venezuela for now from broader sanctions against its vital oil industry, but such actions are still under consideration.
