News Americas, GUATIRE, Venezuela, Tues. June 21, 2011: For a fourth day National Guard troops in Venezuela could not retake control of a prison there.
Troops yesterday fired tear gas as they tried to take back control from a group of heavily armed inmates who have engaged in a gun battle with them since Friday, June 17th.
A 5,000-strong security force and inmates have engaged in gun battles at the prison Rodeo I and the adjacent lockup Rodeo II since the military launched a weapons search on Friday.
So far only one prisoner and two National Guard troops have been killed during the clashes but at least 20 other troops have been wounded, he said.
Violence erupted in the El Rodeo I prison on June 12 when a riot broke out that left 22 people dead. The prison is overcrowded.
