Flying Down to Managua

For two years the Reagan Administration has accused the Sandinistas of building a military airfield near Managua that could handle any combat plane in the Soviet arsenal. For two years the Sandinistas have dismissed the charge. But wait. Transportation Minister Carlos Zarruck last week acknowledged that an airport is indeed being constructed at Punta Huete, about 13 miles northeast of the capital. Zarruck insisted that the facility is designed primarily for civilian traffic, though he did not rule out a military role. He said that the project is entirely a Nicaraguan undertaking and that it should be finished in 1986. Administration sources contend that Cubans are in charge and that they are working round the clock to finish the main strip by this fall. Washington fears that the field will be used for a shipment of Czechoslovak-made L-39 fighters that may be en route from Eastern Europe, or by a squadron of Soviet MiG-23s reportedly stationed in Cuba, but the Sandinistas deny it. All the U.S. and Nicaragua seem to agree on is that, at some 4,400 yds., Punta Huete will have the longest runway in Central America.