U.S. authorities interviewing daughter of Chile's ex-dictator

Government officials were deciding Wednesday whether to allow the older daughter of former Chilean dictator Gen. &to=http://english.pravda.ru/world/2001/02/01/2269.html' target=_blank>Augusto Pinochet into the United States, hours after she was detained because of an arrest warrant in Chile.

Lucia Pinochet has 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 in the U.S. from Argentina. The plane landed at Dulles International Airport, outside Washington, about 7 a.m. (1200GMT)

"We are interviewing her," said Suzanne Trevino, a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. While Pinochet was being detained, 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.

Lucia Pinochet "was the target of an international arrest warrant issued by a Chilean judge" said Chilean presidential spokesman Osvaldo Puccio, in Santiago.

At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack the interviewing of Pinochet was continuing.