PARIS (AP) -- Ecuador is willing to allow the use of its territory for any release of hostages held by Colombia's main rebel group, President Rafael Correa said on Tuesday.

Correa, speaking in Paris following a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, offered his ""unconditional"" assistance in France's bid to win the freedom of one of the hostages, Ingrid Betancourt, who holds French and Colombian citizenship. She is among hundreds being held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
""If Ecuador's mediation is needed, if Ecuador's territory is needed for the liberation of the hostages, we'll be there,"" Correa told reporters outside Paris' Elysee presidential palace.
Correa, a leftist, lashed out at conservative Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, accusing him of a smear campaign against Ecuador.
Relations between the two nations have been strained since earlier this year when Colombia launched a cross-border raid on a FARC camp in Ecuador, killing senior rebel Raul Reyes and two dozen others. Uribe has said documents from a computer seized in the raid show the FARC gave money to Correa's 2006 presidential campaign.
Correa, who has denied the allegations, broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia over the March 1 raid.
Sarkozy has made winning the liberation of Betancourt a priority since taking office last year.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is the best hope for successfully negotiating the release of Betancourt and other hostages held by leftist Colombian guerrillas, her husband said.
Chavez helped negotiate the release of six hostages this year. But Colombian President Alvaro Uribe rejects a formal role in release talks for Chavez, who irked his Colombian counterpart by urging more recognition for the rebels.
""The Colombian government, I think out of pride, doesn't want Chavez to participate,"" Juan Carlos Lecompte, Betancourt's husband, told Reuters on the sidelines of an environmental conference in Sao Paulo.
""But for us, the relatives of the captives, he is the main hope that we have. We've begged him to keep working for their release and that is what he is doing.""