Ecuadorean police arrested four men accused of plotting to kill leftist President Rafael Correa, the country's attorney general said on Thursday.
Attorney Washington Pezantes said police were interrogating the suspects, three Colombian citizens and one Ecuadorean, caught in the hilly capital Quito.
"In principle we know this was an attempt against national security," Pezantes told reporters. "These were people hired to plot against the president with the help of people in Ecuador."
Vice President Lenin Moreno told Reuters the four men "were being financed by people who don't know how to live in democracy." He did not give any more details.
Correa, a leftist ally of Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, was informed of the plot, Pezantes said.
Local media reported that the men were found with photos of the presidential palace and maps of the nearby streets.
