LUCIA PINOCHET
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP):
THE OLDER daughter of former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet was detained yesterday on arrival in Washington after failing to obey a summons by a Chilean judge who indicted her on tax evasion charges, Chilean and U.S. officials reported.
Lucia Pinochet "was the target of an international arrest warrant issued by a Chilean judge" and "was held at an airport in the city of Washington," said Chilean presidential spokesman Osvaldo Puccio.
U.S. officials said Lucia Pinochet, 60, arrived with a son at Dulles Airport, outside of Washington, on a flight from Argentina at 7 a.m. (1200 GMT). They said she was detained but was not under arrest.
"We're evaluating what to do next. There are a couple of different options," said Marc Raimondi, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Chilean Foreign Minister Ignacio Walker said he ordered his country's consul in Washington, Felipe Cousino, to try to interview Lucia Pinochet.
He said she apparently has three alternatives to have U.S. authorities send her back to the country from which she arrived, Argentina; to voluntarily return to Chile and appear at court, or go back to Argentina by herself, "which would open the way for an extradition request by Chile."
