Ecuador spied on Amazon oil plan opponents, leaked papers suggest

Government spies may have illegally targeted political and environmental opponents to president Rafael Correa's plan to extract oil in Yasuni national park

Ecuadorian spies may have broken the law by obtaining personal information on MPs, environmentalists, indigenous groups, human rights activists, academics and political opponents of president Rafael Correa who opposed the exploitation of oil from an Amazonian wilderness, according to leaked papers.

Nearly 200 pages of internal documents that appear to be from Ecuador's spy agency, the Secretaria Nacional de Inteligencia, seen by the Guardian, show that information was collected between 2010 and 2013 about bank accounts, debts, the value of people's cars, foreign travel and partners.