Sandinistas, one of two rival rebel groups holding dozens of captives, freed two ailing politicians and 12 other hostages on Saturday.
The group called it a sign of good will, and urged a pro-Contra group to release its hostages also.The pro-Sandinista group took Nicaragua's vice president and 33 members of the conservative National Opposition Union hostage in Managua on Friday. Vice President Virgilio Godoy was not among those released.
The move was a response to Contra rebels who took 41 Sandinista lawmakers and other officials hostage in the northern town of Qualili on Thursday and Friday.
The stalemate raised fears that civil war could return to Nicaragua, where violence has been a way of life for decades.
Before the release, former Sandinista army Cmdr. Donald Mendoza, the leader of the group that took the hostages in Managua, said he wanted similar action from former Contra leader Jose Angel Talavera, who took the hostages in Quilali.
There was no immediate response from Talavera, who said earlier Saturday that he was less inclined to release his hostages after the pro-Sandinista rebels took hostages in Managua.
"The politicians held by the Sandinistas in Managua have no connection at all with our military forces," Talavera told The Associated Press in an interview in Quilali.
Talavera claimed to have the backing of all the peasants in the north and of forces outside Nicaragua.
Both sides in the 1980s guerrilla war have become increasingly militant over broken promises for land, money and other government compensation.
The economy that President Violeta Chamorro inherited from the Sandinistas in 1990 had been devastated by eight years of civil war and a U.S. economic blockade.