Storms Central America

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.

The Clinton administration and international donor organizations, heeding a warning from four Central American presidents that the ravages of Hurricane Mitch are endangering democracy in their countries, pledged more than $1 billion Thursday in relief and interest-free loans to the devastated region. "You are our neighbors, our friends, our partners," Undersecretary of State Stuart E. Eizenstat said during an emergency meeting of the visiting presidents and a group of donor organizations.

With a sum of $400 million, Honduras could get a start on rebuilding the 88 bridges that tropical storm Mitch destroyed or damaged on its rampage through Central America. Or it could construct housing for some of its 1.4 million citizens who lost their homes. Or, Honduras could make the regular annual payment on its $4.1 billion foreign debt.

Dole Food Co., the world's largest producer and marketer of fresh fruits, said it will lose money and take a $100-million charge in the fourth quarter because Hurricane Mitch damaged its Central American banana plantations and disrupted its Honduran beverage business. The charge is greater than the Westlake Village-based company expected, although fewer crops were affected than originally thought. Dole estimated the loss at $3 million to $6 million, or 5 cents to 10 cents a share.

Fans came by the tens of thousands Wednesday to see soccer superstars from Mexico and Central America vie at the Coliseum. But this time, the players competed for a greater cause than victory. The tournament, called Project Relief/Soccer '98, was held to raise money for Central American victims of Hurricane Mitch, which left more than 10,000 dead and thousands missing, and caused billions of dollars in damage.

Ariela Amador waited all afternoon, watching hopefully as rescue helicopters landed in a field near her home. Orlando Vargas hiked 60 miles, wading through rivers. Tomas Mayorga journeyed for two days, first by bus, then on foot. All three were searching desperately for loved ones missing in the most destructive mudslide unleashed by tropical storm Mitch. Each found at least one relative alive. But about 1,000 people remain unaccounted for in the mudslide at Casitas Volcano in western Nicaragua.

As desperation turned to anger among tropical storm Mitch's survivors, Central American governments went on the defensive Thursday. Officials throughout the region tried to explain the delays in evacuating flooded areas during the storm and the current holdups in bringing food and medicine to survivors isolated by collapsed bridges and washed-out roads.

Cutting a broad path of destruction across Central America on Sunday, rains from tropical storm Mitch swelled rivers, carried away bridges, washed out roads and left more than 1,000 people dead from the Caribbean to the Pacific. Among the dead was popular Tegucigalpa Mayor Cesar Castellanos, whose helicopter crashed Sunday afternoon--his 49th birthday--while flying over damaged areas of the Honduran capital.