US-Honduran exercise is threat, Nicaragua says

Nicaragua denounced joint US-Honduran maneuvers that began Tuesday near its border, saying they are intended to make Honduras the jumping-off point for an invasion of Nicaragua.

The six-day maneuvers are taking place 20 miles from the tense Nicaraguan-Honduran border, and involve 1,600 US troops and 4,000 Honduran troops in one of the biggest war games of recent years in Central America. Nicaragua put its civil-defense units on alert.

Both the United States and Honduras have denied the exercises are intended to threaten Nicaragua.