Pro- and anti-government groups are battling fiercely for public support over a contested plan by embattled President Nicolas Maduro to have a new body elected this month to rewrite the constitution.

The opposition, energized by the release from jail of one of its emblematic leaders, Leopoldo Lopez, is leading the charge against the new assembly to be chosen in a July 30 election.

Two protesters, both aged 20, died Thursday during anti-government demonstrations in separate regions of Venezuela, bringing the total deaths in more than two months of protests to 72, officials said.

Thousands of Venezuelans blocked roads on Monday in a seventh week of anti-government demonstrations, vowing not to budge all day in protest at a deadly, deepening political and economic crisis.

An 18-year-old died during a protest in the western state of Tachira after being shot by gunfire in the thorax, prosecutors said, bringing to at least 39 the number of people killed since April 1.

A 27-year-old man died in anti-government protests in the Venezuelan capital Caracas Wednesday, bringing to 38 the death toll from 40 days of political unrest, prosecutors said on Twitter.

Riot cops fired tear gas at protesters in Venezuela Monday as thousands demonstrated against President Nicolas Maduro's efforts to reform the constitution in a deadly political crisis.

Masked protesters responded by hurling rocks and other projectiles in clashes in the capital Caracas, with other violence reported in the western states of Merida and Zulia.

Three people were killed in Venezuela on Monday in another day of nationwide protests against leftist president Nicolas Maduro, raising the death toll to 24 in weeks of anti-government demonstrations.

The latest casualties come on a day anti-Maduro demonstrators blocked major roads in the South American nation, and as the opposition called for a mass protest in Caracas on Wednesday.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro called Sunday for local elections in Venezuela -- but not at the presidential level, which millions in his strife-torn nation are demanding.

Maduro in his weekly television address endorsed voting planned for later this year at the mayoral and gubernatorial level.

Protesters hurling rocks clashed with police firing tear gas Saturday in Venezuela's fourth demonstration in a week against President Nicolas Maduro and his government.

The rally was marked by anger over a ruling from the leftist government banning opposition leader Henrique Capriles from office for 15 years. Around 4,000 people attended the demonstration. 

The head of the Organization of American States called on members Tuesday to suspend crisis-hit Venezuela's membership unless the leftist government of President Nicolas Maduro quickly holds credible elections.

OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro called on Venezuela "as soon as possible" to hold "free, just and transparent" elections that can be observed by international monitors.

Venezuela and the United States locked horns again over political prisoners held by Caracas, including a jailed opposition leader whose supporters took to the streets of the capital Saturday to demand his release.