World Notes NICARAGUA

The question has hovered menacingly since Violeta Chamorro's upset win last February in Nicaragua's presidential elections: Would the defeated Sandinista National Liberation Front (F.S.L.N.) relinquish control of the army and police force that kept it in power for ten years?

After a month of mixed signals, the answer finally appears to be yes to the much disputed issue. The F.S.L.N. and Chamorro's transition team agreed last week that the Sandinista People's Army and the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, should be "subordinated to the civil power of the president of the republic." In a seven-point document, the two sides also specified that the new government could reduce the size of the military. Chamorro has promised deep cuts in the 70,000-man army, as well as in the police force, whose size is secret but is estimated at 10,000.

One sticking point is the reluctance of some anti-Sandinista contras to lay down their weapons before Chamorro takes office on April 25. But the rebels are running out of friends faster than ammunition. When 100 contras ambushed and killed a dozen Sandinista soldiers near the Honduran border last week, the attack was swiftly denounced by the newspaper La Prensa, owned and operated by the Chamorro family.