WASHINGTON (AP)—An Illinois farmer released by the Nicaraguan government after 56 days in prison said Monday he opposes aid to Contra rebels even though he once helped them.

Flanked by the men who secured his release, James Denby told reporters he is more than glad to support their position: rejection of President Reagan’s request for a scaled-down, $36.2 million aid package for the Contras.

“I’ll pretty well go along with it,” Denby said at a news conference in the Capitol. “Anybody who will do what they did for me, I want to help them in any way I can.”

The House is scheduled to vote Wednesday on the administration’s aid request, and Denby said he was sure the congressional debate was a factor in his release two months after his small plane was forced down over Nicaragua.

“These people are certainly not dumb,” he said of the leftist Sandinista government that set him free Saturday.

Denby was joined at the news conference by Aris Anagnos, chairman of the Humanitarian Law Project of Los Angeles, and Bill Press, a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in California, who negotiated his release.

“There were absolutely no conditions,” Press said in denying suggestions that the Carlinville, Ill., farmer agreed to speak out against aid in return for his freedom.