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Pinochets daughter taken into
custody
WASHINGTON The elder daughter of former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet requested asylum in the United States after being taken into custody at Dulles International Airport, Chilean and U.S. officials said. Lucía Pinochet was taken into custody by customs officials because of an outstanding arrest warrant in Chile, officials said. Chilean Interior Minister Francisco Vidal said U.S. Ambassador Craig Kelly had informed his government of the asylum request. A State Department official confirmed the request and said she would be interviewed by an asylum officer. The official spoke on condition of anony-mity because he was not authorized to disclose the information. Lucía Pinochet had been indicted by a Chilean judge on tax evasion and false passport charges, Chilean and U.S. officials said. She was taken into custody after she got off a plane from Argentina that landed at Dulles International Airport, outside Washington, around 7 a.m. EST. We are interviewing her, said Suzanne Trevino, a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. While Pinochet was being de-tained, she was not under arrest. Under normal procedures, a person who tries to enter the U.S. and is detained by customs is entitled to an admissibility interview. If they are not going to be admitted into the U.S., then they would be put on a flight back to the country that they originated in, Trevino said. In Santiago, the Chilean capital, Foreign Minister Ignacio Walker said the U.S. government told Chile that Pinochet was being transferred to an immigration service detention center and that a decision could be made on her request for asylum within three days. We are absolutely confident that it will be rejected, Walker said. Pinochet was the target of an international arrest warrant issued by a Chilean judge, said Chilean presidential spokesman Osvaldo Puccio. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack was asked whether the United States has special policies on extradition for children of former dictators. He said the issue in this case was the arrest warrants, not ancestry. Rodrigo García Pinochet, Lucía Pi-nochets son, sent a letter from his mother to the Santiago newspaper La Segunda. He had accompanied his mother on the first leg of her journey to Washington, a land trip to Argentina. In the letter she said she is convinced that in this case they are not trying to determine the source of my fathers funds, but some people aim at defaming each and every member of my family. She said she tried to talk to the judge in the case before traveling, but he would not meet with her. As I never received an answer to my request for a meeting and I was never formally notified of the measures the judge would take, I traveled on Jan. 22nd, she wrote. Once I get back, I will be able to clarify any doubts. The letter mentioned no date for her return. In the letter, Pinochet denied any wrongdoing. Calling her assets modest, she said she earned them with my personal effort and dedication, always acting in a correct manner. Chilean Foreign Minister Ignacio Walker said he ordered his countrys consul in Washington, Felipe Cousino, to try to interview Pinochet. He said she apparently has three alternatives: to have U.S. authorities send her back to Argentina; to voluntarily return to Chile and appear in court; or to return to Argentina voluntarily, which would open the way for an extradition request by Chile. The government has no recommendation to make on this, Walker said. Our interest is that the judicial resolution be obeyed. The case stems from a scandal that erupted in Washington itself. Lucía Pinochet and several members of her family are implicated in a scandal involving the now-defunct Riggs Bank of Washington. The bank provided diplomatic banking services for decades until a Senate investigation found irregularities in its operations. Congressional investigators al-leged that Gen. Pinochet worked with bank managers to set up phony offshore companies to hide the existence of about $8 million at the bank. A subsequent judicial investigation in Chile determined that Gen. Pinochet had deposited as much as $28 million in accounts in several countries. Last year, Gen. Pinochet issued a statement denying any wrongdoing and claiming his advisers had paid all of his outstanding taxes. Also indicted in the case were Pinochets wife, also named Lucía, and his adult children Veronica, Jacqueline and Marco Antonio. Charges were also filed against Marco Antonios wife and a lawyer and a secretary for Pinochet. They are all free on bail. Pinochets older son, Augusto, was charged only with using a false passport. Investigators say the defendants together evaded $2.05 million in taxes. AP
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