CARACAS (AFP) -- For once, the United States and Venezuela agree on something -- both support the return of ousted president Manuel Zelaya, but differences remain on how best to achieve their common goal.

The difference approaches championed by the long-time adversaries underscores the fragile nature of their timid rapprochement after years of tensions.
The coup d'etat that overthrew Zelaya on June 28 happened as the two countries were inching towards better relations.
Ambassadors to the two countries were recently reinstated, nine months after they were expelled during the worst days of discord between conservative former U.S. president George W. Bush and socialist Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.
Now the crisis emanating from Tegucigalpa has shown that the two countries can find common ground on some issues.
Chavez, who has been a Zelaya ally since the Honduran leader abruptly moved to the left in 2008, has been one of the loudest voices calling for the ousted president's return.
For his part, President Barack Obama condemned Zelaya's overthrow and ordered his administration to avoid contact with the de facto government installed after the ouster.
On Friday, Chavez telephoned the U.S. State Department to discuss the crisis, following that with a call for the United States to freeze military aid to Honduras and remove the U.S. troops it has stationed at the country's Palmerola base.
He has also criticized the talks between Zelaya and Honduras' de facto President Roberto Micheletti, which are being mediated by Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias and are strongly supported by the United States.
Chavez says that discussions with the “usurper” Micheletti could incite more coups by legitimizing the de facto leader, and has called instead for more US pressure on the new Honduran government.
“Why haven't they cancelled visas for Micheletti and the putschists? Why haven't they frozen their U.S. bank accounts and seized their U.S. property?” Chavez has said.
The U.S. State Department has said it will focus its support for the moment on the talks brokered by Arias, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his work bringing to an end Latin America's bloody civil wars.
But even within the United States, there is disagreement about the best approach to the crisis.
Republican Representative Connie Mack has criticized Obama for his reaction, saying the administration “now stands with the likes of Chavez” and Latin American leftist leaders Evo Morales of Bolivia and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua.
Two months after Chavez and Obama shook hands during a Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, the Honduran crisis has shown that dialogue between the two countries has started, but relations are far from normalized.
For U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the goal is to “lower the temperature,” she said on Tuesday in an interview with Venezuelan television station Globovision.
“Part of what we hope we will see over the next months in Venezuela is a recognition that you can be a very strong leader and have very strong opinions without trying to take on too much power and trying to silence all your critics,” Clinton said.