CARACAS, June 13 (Reuters) - The recent wave of lootings and food riots in crisis-hit Venezuela has left three people dead in the last week, authorities and a rights group said.

The state prosecutor's office is investigating the deaths of a 21-year-old man in eastern Sucre state on Saturday, another 21-year-old man in the Caracas slum of Petare on Thursday, and a 42-year-old woman in the western state of Tachira last Monday.

All three suffered gunshot wounds during chaotic scenes outside supermarkets, which have become a flashpoint for violence and looting amid scarcities of basics across the South American OPEC member country, according to local rights group Provea.

A policeman has been arrested over the Tachira death.

With basics such as flour and rice running short, crowds chanting "We want food!" are thronging supermarkets daily, presenting a major problem for the struggling leftist government of President Nicolas Maduro.

More than 10 incidents of looting are occurring daily, according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, a local monitoring group.

Venezuela's political opposition is pursuing a recall referendum in an effort to remove the socialist Maduro from office.

Maduro, 53, won election to succeed Hugo Chavez in 2013. The government accuses its opponents of deliberately stirring up trouble and seeking a coup. (Reporting by Sarah Dagher and Girish Gupta; editing by Andrew Cawthorne, G Crosse)

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