There is also a US$1 million reward for information leading to the identification or location of any individual holding a key leadership position in the group responsible for his death.

Villavicencio, who was gunned down in Quito, built a name for himself as an investigative journalist rooting out graft before he became a lawmaker.

The violence injured nine other people, including a candidate for the legislature and two police officers.

The visitors were trapped for 'nearly 10 hours' after the system was paralysed due to an electrical problem.

She was declared dead and her family given a death certificate.

Its epicentre was in the Ecuadoran municipality of Balao, near the border with Peru.

The government of conservative President Guillermo Lasso attributes prison violence to fights between gangs over control of territory and drug trafficking routes.

Seventeen prisoners have been moved to other jails after the incident for their protection, prisons agency says.

Following mediation by the Catholic Church, the government agreed to drop fuel prices by 15 cents.

Fuel prices, which are subsidised in oil-producing Ecuador, have risen sharply since 2020, almost doubling for diesel from US$1 to US$1.90 per gallon and swelling from US$1.75 to US$2.55 for gasoline.

Ecuadoran President Guillermo Lasso insists the problem inside the facilities mirrors that outside, where drug gangs are vying for control of trafficking routes.

Ecuador's 65 prisons have capacity for 30,000 inmates but house some 39,000, equivalent to 30% overcrowding.