Patricia Rodas, the foreign minister in the ousted government, says Zelaya's government will also work to discredit any elections organized by the coup leaders unless he is returned to the presidency by Thursday's deadline.

She told a news conference Monday that the first face-to-face talks in months between the two sides, launched by the Organization of American States last week, were now "on hold" because the coup-installed government is refusing to reinstate the president.

Rodas protested the conditions that Zelaya is being subjected to in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, claiming daily occurrences of noise, lights and psychological warfare.