A 27-day prison uprising by hundreds of inmates was ending on Wednesday as prisoners began to surrender, AP quoted Venezuela's information minister as saying. Information Minister Andres Izarra said on Twitter that "the process of liberation has begun" at El Rodeo II prison east of Caracas. About 1,000 inmates have been resisting authorities at the prison since June 17. It wasn't immediately clear what led to the breakthrough. Grisell Zorrilla, a spokeswoman for prisoners' relatives, told The Associated Press that the inmates were being taken out of the prison and that they all appeared well. A group of armed inmates had remained holed up in the prison during the past month, preventing troops from entering. The inmates began the standoff after thousands of troops stormed adjacent El Rodeo I prison in a weapons search days after a bloody riot. The action set off gunfights between troops and inmates, leaving one prisoner and two National Guard soldiers dead, as well as 20 soldiers wounded. -- SPA
