Venezuelan prison uprising ends after 27 days

A prison uprising that caused seven deaths ended peacefully on its 27th day Wednesday when hundreds of inmates emerged from the embattled Rodeo II prison after negotiations with officials, Venezuelan authorities said.

Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami said on state television that the National Guard had taken control of the prison from inmates and that "we've managed for all of them to come down to the patios."

He said the standoff had been resolved after long talks with the rebelling inmates, including a guarantee from authorities to the prisoners that they would not be harmed.

Information Minister Andres Izarra wrote via Twitter that 831 inmates had come out of the prison.

The inmates began the standoff after thousands of soldiers raided adjacent El Rodeo I prison in a weapons search days after a bloody riot that left 22 dead, including one prisoner. The raid set off gunfights between troops and inmates that killed one prisoner and two soldiers and wounded 20 troops. Four more inmates who escaped were slain by soldiers, AP reported.