Ortega Vows to ‘Liquidate’ GIs Arriving in Honduras : He’s Told to Get Out in 24 Hours

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras —  Thousands of American soldiers began arriving today because of an alleged incursion by Nicaraguan troops and a Honduran official said his government had given the Sandinistas 24 hours to get out.

President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua responded that his army was “ready to combat and liquidate the famous forces of the 82nd Airborne Division.”

Col. Manuel Suarez Benavides, Honduran armed forces spokesman, said the deadline was final.

He said 2,000 Nicaraguan soldiers had crossed the border and penetrated about six miles in pursuit of Contra rebels. A military intelligence source said earlier the Nicaraguans were surrounded by about 4,000 Honduran troopers.

No Comment on Attacks

Suarez Benavides would not comment on Pentagon reports of new Nicaraguan attacks inside Honduras.

Ortega would not say whether his soldiers had crossed the border in pursuit of the U.S.-supported rebels.

“Here the question is not if army troops penetrated Honduran territory or not, but that we have dozens of camps of mercenary forces in Honduran territory, in view of and tolerated by the Honduran government,” he said at a news conference in Managua.

He said Nicaraguan soldiers would not withdraw from Nicaragua’s own border area. Ortega called the deployment of 3,200 American troops in Honduras “another escalation of the war against Nicaragua” and demanded a meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

Nicaragua Pullback Claimed

A spokesman for the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry said before the news conference that Nicaragua had begun pulling its troops back from the frontier region after driving about 2,000 Contra rebels back into Honduras. The Defense and Foreign ministries denied that Nicaraguan troops entered Honduras.

American soldiers began arriving at 10:15 a.m., carried by 26 military transport planes. The C-141s landed at 30-minute intervals at Palmerola air base, headquarters of U.S. military operations in Honduras, 40 miles northwest of Tegucigalpa.

Other cargo planes were carrying equipment in the operation the Pentagon has code-named “Golden Pheasant.”

Heavy fighting was reported Wednesday in the Olancho border province about 125 miles east of Palmerola.

Included in the American forces are two battalions from the renowned 82nd Airborne and two from a new division organized for quick movement around the world. The 82nd Airborne and 7th Infantry Division Light are part of different corps within the Army and are based at opposite ends of the country--Ft. Bragg, N.C., and Ft. Ord, Calif.

Hope to Avoid Conflict

The Honduran intelligence source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “We will not allow the Sandinistas to move farther into the interior of our territory. We want to avoid a large conflict, but if it isn’t possible, we will have to face the invading troops.”

Secretary of State George P. Shultz said in Washington that the soldiers were not being sent in “a shooting capacity” but to “get people’s attention to what is happening in Central America” and say to the Honduran government: “We are your friends. We stand with you.”

“It is important for people to know the United States will fight, but we don’t plan to get involved in any military way,” he said.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the complete deployment would take about 27 hours. The Defense Department said the soldiers had their normal weapons along with nine helicopters and two light tanks.

It was the most dramatic show of U.S. force since the Contras began fighting in Nicaragua six years ago.