Main players in Honduras coup crisis talks

(Reuters) - Honduras' interim government is defying international pressure to reinstate President Manuel Zelaya, ousted in a June 28 military coup.

The two rivals in the Honduran crisis -- Zelaya and the interim president installed by Honduras' Congress, Roberto Micheletti -- have agreed to hold talks on Thursday in San Jose, Costa Rica, aimed at seeking a solution. Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has agreed to mediate the talks.

Here are brief portraits of the main players involved:

OUSTED HONDURAN PRESIDENT MANUEL ZELAYA

* A wealthy logging magnate who wears a cowboy hat with his suits, Zelaya, 56, won a surprise victory as a moderate liberal in 2005 presidential elections. Originally close to Honduras' ruling elite and known as a guitar-strumming motorbike rider, he moved further left politically and sought financing and energy deals with Venezuela, forging close ties with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and echoing his populist rhetoric.

His efforts to extend term limits for the president were considered unconstitutional by his critics and sparked the coup, when the army arrested him and sent him on a plane to Costa Rica in his pyjamas on the morning of a vote seen as a step towards extending his mandate.

Public support for Zelaya dropped as low as 30 percent recently and he has been accused by the interim government which replaced him with violating the constitution and treason.

Zelaya has vowed to return to Honduras despite threats to arrest him if he does and he insists he must serve out his term, due to end in January. Honduran soldiers foiled his attempt on Sunday to return home in a Venezuelan plane.

INTERIM PRESIDENT ROBERTO MICHELETTI