The June 28 coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya ``deeply offended the core principles of the Americas,'' a top Obama administration official said Wednesday, calling for de facto authorities there to ``fully and immediately restore all civil and constitutional rights to the Honduran people.''

Dan Restrepo, senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council, spoke Wednesday at the final day of the 13th annual Americas Conference in Coral Gables.

As special assistant to the president, Restrepo is one of the administration officials who met with Zelaya, the leftist who was booted from office three months ago by a coalition of the business community, courts and congress.

In a speech that recapped the administration's initiatives on security, energy, economy and human rights, Restrepo said Washington is eager for the Honduran crisis to be resolved in a way that restores democracy, constitutional order -- and examines the events that led to it.

`GHOSTS OF THE PAST'

``Ghosts of the past, when democratically elected governments of the Americas were driven from office at the result of armed forces, have been sadly resurrected in Honduras,'' Restrepo said. ``Although the June 28 coup against Manuel Zelaya did not occur in a vacuum, it deeply offended the core principles of the Americas.''

He called for de facto leader Roberto Micheletti to restore civil and constitutional rights, and said that both sides should cool the actions that could cause violence.

Last weekend, Micheletti issued a decree that suspended some constitutional rights. Some media outlets have been closed, and protests at government buildings were broken up Wednesday even as Micheletti had promised to lift the decree.

Zelaya, who is in seclusion at the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, has called for Washington to do more. In an interview with The Miami Herald last week, he urged Obama to use trade sanctions against Honduras to force an end to the crisis.

``The Inter-American community has said the U.S. needs to stop interfering directly in Latin American affairs, so when Obama starts toeing that line, there's frustration about that,'' said Florida International University President Mark Rosenberg, an expert on Central America. ``Some problems don't lend themselves to direct intervention. I think we have found that out in other parts of the world.''

TOLEDO SPEAKS

The Americas Conference also featured Alejandro Toledo, former president of Peru, who urged the region's leaders to work together to place a greater focus on healthcare and education. Fiscal policy, he said, should go hand in hand with delivering fruits of that policy to the poor, he said.

Other sessions debated the crisis facing the Caribbean, which struggles to stay afloat amid the global financial recession. An increasing number of nations are forging fresh ties with unexpected allies, such as China. It's a trend that shows the need for resources, but also raises questions of where these new relationships will lead the Caribbean.

``We're forced to take help from whoever is providing the help,'' said John Maginley, Antigua and Barbuda's minister of tourism.

`HAPPY ENDING'

Even before the crisis, Caribbean economies were struggling as the island nations faced issues of food security, natural disasters, economic downturns and changes in trade. For instance, a succession of hurricanes in four years in Jamaica, finally forced companies like Jamaica Producers to cease its fresh banana exports and switch to less vulnerable chips.

``So far, the story has a happy ending,'' Jamaica CEO Jeffrey Hall said. ``We're having some fun, making some money and most importantly, putting some people back to work.''

Miami Herald Editorial Board Editor Myriam Marquez contributed to this report.

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