Contreras noted however that the failure to send a physical delegation did not mean 'that our part of the dialogue is broken.' He indicated that the post-coup government had sent another proposal to Arias and hoped for further calls to talks.

Zelaya has called Micheletti's government a 'terror regime'.

'Their base is military power, oppression, control of the media, limiting public freedoms,' Zelaya told DPA late Tuesday. 'It's a terrorist government.'

Arias, who received the Nobel Peace Prize for his mediation efforts in Central America during the 1980s, has proposed that Zelaya return to Honduras to head a reconciliation government, and called for early elections in October to elect a new government.

But Micheletti rebuffed the proposal as one that would intervene in the country's internal affairs. Micheletti has also rejected a compromise proposed by his own negotiating team in Costa Rica that would allow Zelaya to return under certain conditions.

The Honduran Supreme Court, military and Congress booted Zelaya out of his country June 28, charging he was plotting to hold a national referendum that would allow him further terms in office. Zelaya was awakened in the middle of the night and forced to flee the country while still wearing his pajamas.

On Tuesday, Micheletti's regime ordered Venezuelan diplomats to leave the country by Friday. But the Venezuelan embassy in Tegucigalpa said Wednesday it refused to leave. The de-facto regime charges that Venezuelan diplomats have been organising resistance

from within the country that aims to restore Zelaya to power.

The pro-Micheletti demonstrations were organized by the Civic Union Democratic group (UCV,) a coalition of trade unions and nongovernmental organizations.