Honduras' interim government said Wednesday it has offered a compromise to the chief mediator in talks to end the political crisis, as tens of thousands of people marched against the return of ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

The new proposal comes ahead of a midnight deadline for mediators to achieve the reinstatement of Zelaya, who is threatening to return to Honduras with or with an agreement and seek the prosecution of leaders of the coup that forced him into exile.

The interim government's Foreign Minister, Carlos Lopez, said in a news conference that his government presented a working draft to Costa Rican President Oscar Arias on Tuesday that was drawn up with the help of a U.S. senator who "has followed the political situation in Honduras with great interest." He declined to name the senator.

Lopez said interim President Roberto Micheletti was immediately sending a delegation to San Jose, Costa Rica, to meet with Arias, who was expected to include their new compromise in a reworked reconciliation plan. He did not give further details.

Micheletti's government rejected a seven-point Arias proposal last weekened that would have allowed Zelaya's return in a power-sharing government.

At a government event in San Jose on Wednesday, Arias did not give details on the mediation efforts, saying only that "opposition and intransigence have not been absent from this process."

Zelaya was ousted by a June 28 military backed coup that sent him into exile _ setting off daily marches by both supporters and opponents.

Tens of thousands of Micheletti's supporters rallied in the Honduran capital on Wednesday in one of the biggest demonstrations seen yet. Many chanted "Honduras!", waved the country's blue-and-white flag and wore white shirts printed with the slogan "I'm Defending My Constitution."

They accused Zelaya of being a pawn of his ally, leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

"They wanted to impose communism on us, and we don't want to be communists," said retired gardener Florencio Mejia, 80, as he marched in a blue-and white baseball cap, clutching a Honduran flag.

Dentist Julia Garcia echoed Micheletti's comments that the country would tough out economic sanctions from other countries.

"We prefer six months of isolation, to losing our liberty," Garcia said.

Tensions remained high, as marchers and Zelaya supporters exchanged shouts, insults and tossed small plastic bags of water at each other.

"These people have all been paid to march, and their bosses would fire them if they didn't come," said Zelaya supporter Alba Galindo.

Asked if the split between Hondurans could ever be healed, Galindo said "only if Zelaya returns."

No foreign government has recognized the Micheletti administration, and the United States has been turning up the pressure for his reinstatement.

Brazil's Foreign Relations Minister, Celso Amorim, said the interim government was "delaying its death throes" by refusing calls for Zelaya's return.

The region's most important conservative government, Colombia, said that President Alvaro Uribe had met with Micheletti's representatives, but only as part of the negotiation process.

Deputy U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood, speaking to reporters in Washington, said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Micheletti's government in a phone call over the weekend.

U.S. officials are considering sanctions and the European Union has already frozen euro65 million ($92 million) in development aid and warned of further steps.

"The secretary of state made very clear that Mr. Micheletti, the de facto regime, needs to take this mediation effort seriously and respond appropriately," Wood said. "Should that not happen, there are clear consequences with regard to our assistance to Honduras. But I'm not going to go beyond that at this point. Our focus remains on the mediation effort."

Micheletti so far has not backed down.

Zelaya, meanwhile, said he is moving forward with plans to return, indicating he may not wait for a negotiated solution.

"I'm going to my country, my people, to reunite with my family, my wife and my children," Zelaya told Honduras' Radio Globo in an interview Wednesday from neighboring Nicaragua, where he has been staying at a Managua hotel.

Zelaya said he was gathering Hondurans and Honduran exiles in neighboring countries to participate in his return, and said that once he was reinstated as president, "a process of dialogue and reconciliation and forgiveness will begin, but there will be trial for those who carried out the coup."

Zelaya angered many people in Honduras by ignoring Congress' and the courts' rejection of his effort to hold a referendum on changing the constitution, which many saw as an attempt to impose a Chavez-style socialist government.

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Associated Press writers Marianela Jimenez in San Jose, Costa Rica, and Matt Lee in Washington contributed to this report.