The World - News from Dec. 31, 1986

Honduran soldiers and about 3,000 U.S. troops have begun a four-month military exercise that will include improving airstrips in southern Honduras. The first phase of the exercise, which began Monday, calls for improvement of airstrips at San Lorenzo, 64 miles south of Tegucigalpa, and at Jamastran, about 90 miles east of the capital. The troops also will build a four-mile dirt road at Punta Raton, between Tegucigalpa and San Lorenzo. Honduras says Sandinista troops crossed into Honduras at least five times in the last eight months in pursuit of U.S.-backed contras, who operate from southern Honduras in their quest to topple Nicaragua’s leftist government.