Nicaraguan Army Pilot Reportedly Deserts

A Nicaraguan army pilot deserted during a routine mission Monday and flew to neighboring Honduras, where he sought asylum, a military official said.

Sub-Lt. Salvador Blanco Lacayo, 23, surrendered to Honduran authorities immediately upon landing at Toncontin International Airport outside Tegucigalpa, the capital, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He said Blanco Lacayo was the sole occupant of the twin-engine AN-2 supply plane and that he turned over two Soviet-made AK-47 rifles. He denied earlier reports that there were several people aboard.

Honduran air force fighter planes chased Blanco Lacayo’s Polish-built aircraft after it entered Honduran airspace, forcing it to land, the official said.

Blanco Lacayo reportedly told authorities that he had finished delivering weapons and food to Sandinista troops in Molocucu, in northern Nicaragua, when he decided to cross the border. Molocucu has been a center of fighting between Nicaragua’s Sandinista army and U.S.-backed rebels trying to overthrow the leftist government.

At least 25,000 Nicaraguans have fled into Honduras in the last seven years, both before and after the Sandinistas ousted Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979.