Police in Venezuela have regained control of a prison after a stand-off with prisoners that lasted for 27 days.
The uprising ended without bloodshed when hundreds of inmates emerged from the Rodeo II prison after negotiations with officials.
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”.
“We celebrate the triumph of peace, dialogue,” Mr El Aissami said.
He said the stand-off had been resolved after long talks with the inmates, including a guarantee from authorities to the prisoners that they would not be harmed.
Information minister Andres Izarra said 831 inmates had come out of the prison.
After regaining control of the facility, officials began searching for inmates’ weapons, Mr El Aissami said. The uprising started in the prison, east of the capital Caracas, on June 17th.
Officials have said that only about 60 armed inmates were involved in the uprising which prevented troops from entering the prison. Mr El Aissami said some of the rebellious inmates decided to end the uprising and turned themselves over to National Guard troops.
“Some of the leaders of these organisations, of the mafias that were there, have changed their violent attitude,” he said.
“They have been identified (and) they are now in the national guard’s custody.”
President Hugo Chavez, in a message on Twitter, congratulated authorities for peacefully bringing an end to the stand-off. He called it an “example of supreme respect for human rights”, while also saying the ordeal has been cause for “great self-criticism”.
Grisel Zorrilla, a spokeswoman for prisoners’ relatives, said the inmates were led from their cells and were organised into groups on a patio of the prison compound. She said authorities were then taking the men to bathe and provide them food and water. She said the inmates were in healthy condition despite showing signs of dehydration.
“They have been treated fairly,” Ms Zorrilla said. “They are a bit dehydrated, but the boys have maintained their strength.”
Ms Zorrilla said she entered the prison along with 19 other relatives to monitor the actions of prison authorities.
The inmates began the stand-off 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.
AP