San Jose, Costa Rica  - Mediation talks on Honduras' political crisis resumed Wednesday in Costa Rica after the de-facto government had a change of heart and rejoined the discussions.

Delegations representing ousted President Manuel Zelaya and the post-coup government of Roberto Micheletti arrived in San Jose shortly before a deadline for resumption of talks expired, an official source told dpa.

Micheletti's de-facto foreign minister, Carlos Lopez Contreras, flew in from Tegucigalpa, changing course from earlier in the day when post-coup officials said they would not attend the talks.

Zelaya's delegation travelled from Managua, where the ousted and exiled president has been staying. His representative Rixi Moncada entered the negotiation venue - the presidential house - at 2200 GMT.

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias delayed by one hour plans to speak to the press about an agreement. Arias, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating Central American conflicts in the 1980s, has presided over the talks.

"I do not know if there is an agreement, or if there will be new proposals," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Negotiations reached an impasse late Sunday night. Micheletti and Zelaya have been hurling mutual verbal attacks at each other and vowing they would not share power in a reconciliation government, as Arias has proposed.

After the stalemate, Arias set a 72-hour deadline for resumption of talks which expired Wednesday.

At issue is the ouster of Zelaya on June 28 by the Honduran Supreme Court, military and Congress, which charged he had been plotting to hold a national referendum that would have supported his bid for more terms in office. Zelaya was awakened in the middle of the night and forced to flee the country while still wearing his pajamas.

The Organization of American States (OAS) has suspended Honduras' membership until Zelaya, the democratically elected leader, is restored.

Arias has proposed that Zelaya return to Honduras to head a reconciliation government, and called for early elections in October to elect a new government.

The de-facto government has offered a counterproposal. While details were not released, Lopez Contreras said that it was based on suggestions by an unnamed US senator who has followed the political situation in Honduras closely.

The crisis has stirred diplomatic havoc, with disputes over representation in foreign capitals and in Tegucigalpa.

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, and Venezuela's representatives to the OAS in Washington emphasized the country's intention to keep its diplomats in place in Honduras.

Micheletti's regime charges that Venezuelan diplomats have been organizing resistance from within the country that aims to restore Zelaya to power.

Supporters of the de-facto regime turned out in the thousands on Wednesday to demonstrate their opposition to "foreign intervention" in Honduras' affairs.

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 Tuesday. "It's a terrorist government." (dpa)