Rearmed Contras Reported Going Back Into Nicaragua

Nicaraguan rebels are moving back into Nicaragua from their bases in Honduras to renew their campaign against the Sandinista government, according to rebel leaders.

They said the rebels, known as contras, have acquired new supplies of arms. They declined to identify the source, but recent visitors to the rebel camps on the frontier report seeing large quantities of weapons, including shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles.

Introduction of such anti-aircraft missiles--presumably intended for use against Nicaraguan government helicopters and airplanes--would represent a marked improvement in rebel weaponry.

Rebels returning to Nicaragua conflicts with forecasts that their effort would collapse if Congress defeated President Reagan’s $14-million aid package for the contras.

Despite Congress’ rejection of Reagan’s aid request last month, rebel leaders insist that their troops are in fighting trim. Indelecio Rodriguez, a director of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, the largest of the contra organizations, said that morale is better than ever and the rebels are prepared to fight to the end.

The press has not been permitted to witness the rebel movement. Earlier, before Congress voted against the aid proposal, rebel leaders conducted press tours of their base camps as part of an effort to influence the vote.

The rebel leaders say they now have about 14,000 men under arms, though the number in combat has declined since U.S. aid was cut off last year. At least half of the contra force was pulled out of Nicaragua to the camps in Honduras early this year. Rebel leaders said that relatively few of those who stayed in the fighting zone got into combat.

The Nicaraguan army, much larger than the contras’ forces, has recently taken the initiative throughout northern Nicaragua, the area where the contras have been active.

Honduran Fears Eased

The contras’ return to the battlefield is expected to ease a political problem that the United States has had with the Honduran government and the Honduran military. Both have become concerned about the presence of armed contras on Honduran territory, and it has been proposed that the United States resettle the rebels elsewhere if their insurrection fails.

“The Hondurans get nervous,” a diplomatic source here said, “when the rebels stay too long in the camps. They would like them to stay in Nicaragua and fight.”

In recent days, Honduran newspapers have reported artillery attacks by the Nicaraguan army on frontier towns near contra camps. Travelers from the area report that mines laid by the Nicaraguan army have been found on roads on the Honduran side of the border.

Meanwhile, the Honduran military has broken its silence in connection with a U.S. State Department report that seven Nicaraguan security agents had been arrested in Honduras while on an arms delivery mission to Honduran guerrillas.

A spokesman for the Honduran armed forces, Col. Elvir Sierra, confirmed the report, but declined to provide any details.

Honduran guerrillas said to be hiding in northern mountain areas have been inactive for much of the past year, but Sierra said Honduran intelligence officials report that the guerrillas are caching weapons for renewed activity.

The Reagan Administration has argued that subversive activity abroad by Nicaragua’s Sandinistas is one of the reasons for keeping military and economic pressure on the Managua government.