Contras Say They Are Held Prisoner at Hotel by Police : Nicaragua: Rebel leaders begin a hunger strike after breaking off disarmament talks with the government.

A group of Contra leaders who broke off disarmament talks with the government charged that they were being confined to their hotel Saturday and started a hunger strike to protest their treatment.

“The Sandinista police told us that we cannot leave, threatening us with their arms,” rebel leader Oscar Sovalbarro told a reporter at the Hotel Las Mercedes near Managua’s International Airport, where 13 Contras are staying.

Sovalbarro said his colleagues at the hotel, 9 miles outside of Managua, have begun a hunger strike to protest their treatment.

A Sandinista police captain in charge of the troops at the Las Mercedes Hotel said: “We are following orders. They cannot leave the hotel, but they can move freely within its grounds. . . . We have express orders from the Interior Ministry.”

There was no official comment from the government of President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, who defeated the leftist Sandinista leadership in elections Feb. 25. Although ousted from the president’s office, the Sandinistas still have many supporters in the army and also have representatives in the national legislature.

The Contras broke off the disarmament talks Friday night with government representatives, charging that a group of demobilized Contras were attacked by Sandinista troops May 18 in Waslala, 160 miles north of Managua, resulting in the deaths of 17 Contras.

The government has sent a special commission to the Waslala area to investigate the charges.

Chamorro, in a rare speech to the nation Saturday, said she regrets the difficulty that her administration has had in dealing with the Contra leaders and condemned the break in the demobilization talks.

“I lament the lack of confidence that certain rebel leaders have in the future of the country and in my government, but I am sure, because I have felt it, that the fighters in the security zones want to end the war, to go home,” Chamorro said.

Chamorro said that her government has complied and will continue to comply with its promises.