Colombian rebels laud victory by Ecuador's Correa

BOGOTA, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Colombia's biggest outlaw guerrilla army on Thursday congratulated leftist President Rafael Correa of neighboring Ecuador for winning last month's vote to reform the country's constitution.

The open letter from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, called the victory by Correa supporters in the Sept. 30 election of a constitutional assembly an "inexorable triumph" for socialism.

Correa wants the assembly to dissolve Congress, call early elections and rewrite the constitution to curtail the power of the country's political old guard.

The FARC letter, signed by guerrilla spokesman Raul Reyes from "the mountains of Colombia," lauds Correa for combating Ecuador's "predatory oligarchy."

An ally of Venezuela's anti-American firebrand President Hugo Chavez, Correa has been criticized by Colombia and the United States for declining to join them in branding the FARC a terrorist group.

With the exception of Colombia, the Andean region is a caldron of leftist sentiment with Chavez, Bolivia's Evo Morales and Correa using popular mandates to shore up state control of energy resources and roll back free-market policies.