The World : Nicaragua Frees 29 Rebels

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega freed 29 anti-Sandinista prisoners in a public ceremony and pledged to free as many as 1,200 more in the coming weeks. He made an impassioned appeal for Nicaraguan rebels to lay down their weapons and accept amnesty. In a nationally broadcast speech from the town of Pantasma, in northern Nicaragua, Ortega said he would free the last of his government’s 1,515 political prisoners after the U.S.-backed Contras close their bases in Honduras under a peace accord he signed last week with the presidents of four other Central American countries. But he said most of the prisoners will be freed by early next month in a gesture of reconciliation.