Ortega Assails Vote on Contra Aid : Senate Approval Was ‘Crucifixion of Nicaragua,’ He Says

President Daniel Ortega said Friday that U.S. troops in Honduras run the risk of death, and the U.S. Senate’s approval of aid to Nicaraguan rebels is tantamount to the “crucifixion of Nicaragua.”

Meanwhile, a civilian source near this country’s border with Honduras said that at least 10 truckloads of Nicaraguan soldiers were seen on their way to the border early Friday, and that intense fighting with rebel groups was under way on the Nicaraguan side of the frontier.

Honduras has charged that 1,500 Nicaraguan troopers crossed into Honduras last week in pursuit of rebels, known as contras, fighting the left-wing Sandinista government.

In the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, sources close to the Honduran military said Friday that the Sandinista troops had withdrawn, leaving behind only stragglers. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity.

Called a ‘War Zone’

Ortega, speaking at a news conference, insisted that Nicaraguan soldiers had not entered Honduras, but referred to the 300-mile border as a “war zone.”

“It is really impressive that in this week that people celebrate Holy Week, the week Christ was crucified, that the congressional approval is the crucifixion of Nicaragua,” Ortega said.

The Senate on Thursday night approved, 53 to 47, a modified version of President Reagan’s plan for $100 million in contra aid. The package now returns to the Democrat-controlled House for action. The House last week narrowly defeated the proposal.

Ortega said that “American authorities, American advisers, American helicopters run the same risk (of being killed or destroyed) as the mercenaries (rebels).”

‘Right to Defend’

“The responsibility is theirs,” he said. “Nicaragua has the right to defend its territory.”

On Wednesday, U.S. helicopter crews, among the 1,200 American military personnel stationed at Honduras’ Palmerola air base, ferried 600 Honduran troopers to the border area to join 3,000 who had been sent to the zone earlier. U.S. troops conduct almost continuous training maneuvers in Honduras with Honduran forces.

“It’s a very tense territory occupied by the U.S. and mercenary forces in Honduras,” Ortega said of the border area.

Ortega said there had been no fighting between Nicaraguan and Honduran troops.

Truckloads of Troops

The civilian source near the border told Associated Press by telephone that truckloads of Nicaraguan troops passed through Ocotal, capital of Nueva Segovia province and 140 miles north of Managua, on their way to the border town of Teotecacinte.

Government troops and rebels have been battling in Teotecacinte for two weeks, said the source, who asked not to be identified for security reasons.

He said Ocotal remained calm, but tension was increasing as peasants continued to come into the town from the mountains near the border, saying they were fleeing combat.

The source said the hospital in Ocotal was filled with wounded soldiers, and other casualties apparently were being taken to Managua and elsewhere.

‘Wounded Soldiers’

“Last night at least seven ambulances with wounded soldiers passed through Ocotal,” he said.

On Thursday, the Defense Ministry said that there was heavy fighting at several border points, without specifying where, and that 350 rebels had been killed and 250 others wounded. Forty Sandinista troops were killed and 116 wounded, the ministry said.

Diplomatic sources said the large number of casualties the Defense Ministry mentioned could confirm reports that two Nicaraguan battalions had entered Honduras. A Nicaraguan battalion has up to 800 soldiers.

Ortega contended the United States “put pressure on the Honduran government” to claim the border incursion occurred to “cause a confrontation between Honduras and Nicaragua.”

Declined to Say

He insisted that Nicaraguan soldiers did not cross the mountainous, ill-defined border. However, when asked about a Defense Ministry statement claiming that the rebels’ main training camp was destroyed, Ortega declined to say where the base was located. But he noted that the rebels’ say their camps are in Nicaragua.

Nicaragua, during the four-year-long war, has said the rebels’ camps were located in Honduras and Costa Rica.

Ortega reiterated that his government was willing to talk directly with the United States, but added: “We are not willing to discuss our internal affairs with the United States or anyone.”

The United States has conditioned a resumption of the bilateral talks on the Nicaraguan government meeting with the opposition.

“There is no chance of speaking with the contras,” Ortega said.

Ortega said Sandinista forces will continue defending Nicaragua along the border “as long as there is an aggressive force trying to attack our territory.”

In Managua, up to 30,000 people took part in an Easter procession organized by the Roman Catholic church here, a strong critic of the Sandinista government.