UR; Eds: LEADS throughout to UPDATE with Honduras restoring civil liberties judge saying pilot caused helicopter crash that killed mayor. UR; By JULIE WATSON QC; UR; Associated Press Writer QC; TEGUCIGALPA Honduras AP Honduras announced Tuesday that it suspended a governor for inflating her region's death toll from Hurricane Mitch and lowered its official death count by 1350 people. The new death toll of 5657 was compiled after the government sent teams to verify reports from regions across Honduras the Interior Secretariat said Tuesday. The governor Lucila Esperanza Barahona de Castro of the Santa Barbara region in remote northwestern Honduras was suspended after investigators could verify only 282 of the 1159 deaths reported in her area. Authorities said the suspension was standard procedure during an inquiry. Barahona told The Associated Press she couldn't have falsified the numbers because she didn't even give a death toll to the federal government. ``I don't know what source gave them the numbers'' she said Tuesday. In addition to the 5657 dead Honduras said it had verified 8058 missing 12272 injured and 1.4 million homeless throughout the country. Aid workers and journalists began questioning Honduras' estimated death toll after figures jumped drastically Nov. 2 the same day that news broke of a landslide in Nicaragua that covered two villages and killed up to 2000 people. That day Honduras' official death toll jumped from 600 to 5000. Later authorities raised the figure to 6400 then last week to 7007. Luis Torres spokesman for the committee overseeing the relief effort told The Associated Press that ``all the information is being verified by the mayors' offices the army the police public and private rescue groups and the authorities of the 18 provinces of the country.'' The revised figure from Honduras lowers the overall death toll in Central America from Hurricane Mitch to 9071. Meanwhile Honduras' legislature restored its bill of rights which was suspended Nov. 2 when flooding from Mitch sparked looting and banditry and ended an 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. Lawmakers said the emergency had been overcome. The government also reversed its explanation for a helicopter crash that killed the overwhelmingly popular mayor of the capital Cesar Castellanos a 50-year-old neurosurgeon who was considered the top candidate to become Honduras' next president. Officials had blamed mechanical failure but said Tuesday that human error caused the crash which occurred while Castellanos was surveying hurricane damage. ``Pilot Jose Miranda caused the tragedy when he made an unplanned maneuver which caused the craft the crash into high-tension cables and fall to the ground'' Judge Dagoberto Aspra said Tuesday. He spoke after listening to audiotapes of communications between the pilot and the control tower. Miranda was also killed in the crash. APW19981201.0636.txt.body.html APW19981201.0616.txt.body.html