WRAPUP 6-Honduras dialogue has timid start, no breakthrough

(For a TAKE A LOOK on Honduras, click [ID:nN28343997])

* Honduras rivals fail to meet, leave delegations talking

* Both hold conflicting positions, far from reconciliation

* Mediator Arias admits settlement could take time (Updates with comments from Micheletti, Arias)

By Patrick Markey and Ana Isabel Martinez

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, July 9 (Reuters) - The two rivals for power in Honduras started a dialogue through a mediator on Thursday, but there was no face-to-face meeting or breakthrough to solve the political crisis sparked by last month's coup.

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, and the man who replaced him after the June 28 coup, Roberto Micheletti, left behind teams in Costa Rica's capital San Jose, holding talks under the mediation of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.

Zelaya maintained his demand, which he said was widely backed by the international community, to be reinstated as head of state of Honduras, a small coffee and textile exporting nation which is among the poorest in the Americas.

But Micheletti, who argues Zelaya was lawfully ousted last month because he violated Honduras' constitution by trying to lift presidential term limits, ruled this out.