A VENEZUELAN lorry driver died on Thursday after opposition thugs burned him and two others alive at a roadblock.

Jose Luis Bravo died at midday at the Coromoto Hospital in Maracaibo, the capital of western Zulia state after suffering third-degree burns on Wednesday.

He was riding in the passenger seat of a goods lorry when it ran into an illegal barricade and came under attack from looters throwing stones.

In the hospital, Mr Bravo said: “We came across the barricade … and those who had blocked the way began throwing stones at us to loot the lorry and when we went in reverse, we hit the motorcycle.”

“[The motorcyclist] lay injured on the road and then they threw petrol bombs at us and set the lorry on fire. The boy burned to death.”

The motorcyclist was named as 20-year-old Luigin Paz. The name and condition of the lorry’s driver, also injured, was not reported.

State Governor Francisco Arias demanded via Twitter: “The opposition leadership in Zulia must speak out!”

The Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mud) coalition called for “national shutdown” on Wednesday as part of three months of protests and riots aimed at overthrowing President Nicolas Maduro.

The sabotage includes blocking main roads, shutting down public-transport networks and forcing shops to stay closed — exacerbating the shortages of food, medicines and other goods the opposition blames on the government.

Rioters set fire to a warehouse stocked with food ready to distribute to hungry families in Anzoategui state on Thursday night, with officials saying 60 tonnes of the 100 stored could be rescued.

On Tuesday Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said 24-year-old Giovanny Gonzalez was burned and stabbed by masked rioters in Caracas who thought he was a government supporter.

That mirrored the attack on Orlando Figuera, who died in hospital on June 4.

On Thursday pro-opposition Attorney General Luisa Ortega charged former Bolivarian National Guard commander Antonio Benavides with human rights abuses, claiming police and troops were responsible for 23 of the 80-plus deaths so far and 853 injuries.

Meanwhile the Cuban Foreign Ministry slammed regional governments’ support for the Mud and failure to condemn its “terrorist and putschist acts.”