Argentina's first lady met Tuesday with the mother of a former Colombian presidential candidate held captive by leftist guerrillas to discuss efforts to negotiate her release.

Yoland Pulecio, the mother of ex-Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, said she had won a pledge of support from Argentine first lady Cristina Fernandez for efforts to free her daughter from her rebel captors through negotiations, instead of a military rescue.

«I had a very important meeting with Mrs. Kirchner,» said Pulecio, who met with Fernandez, wife of President Nestor Kirchner, at the Argentine president's official residence.

Betancourt, who has dual French-Colombian citizenship, was kidnapped in 2002 by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or the FARC, Latin America's oldest guerrilla insurgency.

Pulecio said she hoped Fernandez's support would influence Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to pursue an exchange of rebel prisoners for rebel-held captive.

Uribe has said his government will free hundreds of imprisoned guerrillas on June 7 as long as they leave the ranks of the FARC and rejoin civilian life.

The government hopes the offer will help restart stalled talks over an accord to swap imprisoned rebels for some 60 hostages, including Betancourt and three U.S. military defense contractors.

But Uribe has also spoken of a military rescue of the hostages, an option opposed by Betancourt's mother and the French government, who fear a military operation would endanger the hostages' lives.