Governor Suspended Over Storm Toll

Honduras announced that it suspended a governor for inflating her region’s death toll from Hurricane Mitch. It also lowered its official death count by 1,350 people. The new death toll of 5,657 was compiled after the government sent teams to verify regional reports. The governor, Lucila Esperanza Barahona de Castro of the Santa Barbara region, was suspended after investigators could only verify 282 of the 1,159 deaths reported in her area. Authorities said the suspension was standard procedure during an inquiry. Barahona said she couldn’t have falsified the numbers because she didn’t give a death toll to the federal government.