SANTIAGO – Her real name is Maritza Gáez Arismendi, but she’s better known as Reichell, the stage name she adopted to become one of the leading stars in Chile’s new erotic film industry — and the name under which she is running for a seat in the lower house of parliament in the federal elections of December 2005.

Reichell officially announced her candidacy in July in a Santiago nightclub, then gave her campaign an early start in October with a comedy farce staged in a local theatre, called My Photo for Your Vote.

To enter the world of politics, Reichell joined the ranks of the Social Democratic Radical Party (PRSD), an offshoot of the Radical Party, which was founded as a progressive liberal party in 1861 as a challenge to the conservative Catholic establishment.

“The Radical Party stands for freedom, equality and non-discrimination, so I figured it was the only party that was going to accept me,” the actress explained in an interview with the Chilean web magazine Con Tinta Negra.

The PRSD is part of the centre-left coalition that currently governs Chile, led by socialist President Ricardo Lagos. The party is supported by roughly five percent of the electorate, based on the results of the Oct. 31 local elections, and is thus the most junior member of the governing alliance, which also comprises the Christian Democratic Party, the Socialist Party, and the Party for Democracy.

“I could really identify with the party’s radical stance in the struggle to legalise divorce,” Reichell said. Divorce was illegal until May of this year in Chile, a country still heavily influenced by conservative Catholic ideology.

“Another issue that really concerns me is discrimination, because it’s something that I’ve experienced in my own daily life, from my family and society,” she added.

The Chilean magazine Plan B reported that octogenarian senator Enrique Silva Cimma, president of the PRSD, endorsed Reichell’s entry into the party and even assigned her a political tutor, responsible for educating the actress in the doctrine of radicalism and grooming her for the campaign trail.

Reichell, 28, was born to a family of farmers in the small town of Frutillar, 1,000 kilometres south of Santiago. She lost her virginity at the age of 11, she says, spurred by curiosity and an eagerness to defy her parents, whom she describes as “peasant people with super closed minds.”

The mother of an eight-year old daughter, she said she dreamed of working in the porn industry since she was a teenager, inspired by magazines and movies. “I love being the centre of attention,” she said, adding, “Who doesn’t like to feel desired?”

Sexually explicit films were banned in Chile until 2001, when a law was passed to eliminate censorship of artistic works. Among other things, the new legislation allowed for the screening of roughly 400 films vetoed for various reasons during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

The film censorship authority was replaced with a classification board that rates movies according to their age-appropriateness. Only sexually explicit films featuring extreme violence or involving minors are totally prohibited.

The elimination of censorship paved the way for the opening of “XXX” movie theatres in Chile. Previously, the only venues for such adult fare were private homes and underground clubs that managed to get hold of films smuggled into the country, despite the efforts of the authorities to block their entry.

These restrictions did not prevent the production of “home-made” porn inside the country. Despite their poor production quality, these low-budget efforts nevertheless helped fill the demand on the underground erotic film circuit, journalist Marco Fajardo told IPS.

The opening of XXX adult film theatres and the legalisation of the importation of pornographic movies also served as additional inspiration for Chilean directors hoping to compete in this market segment with local productions.

One of the first directors to take the plunge was Leonardo Barrera, whose girlfriend at the time was none other than farmer’s daughter Maritza Gáez, soon transformed into porn star Reichell.

Fantasies of a Teenage Nymphomaniac, Sex Appeal and Hanito, the Genie of Pleasure are just a few of the titles starring the actress-turned-political hopeful. They regularly make the rounds of the XXX film theatres in downtown Santiago — which now number at least eight — and are also sold on videocassette and DVD in the country’s porn shops, yet another burgeoning business in the newly liberated Chile.

Reichell has been subjected to the inevitable comparisons with Italian-Hungarian porn star Ilona Staller, better known as Cicciolina, who was elected to the Italian parliament in 1987. Staller was a candidate for Italy’s Radical Party — another coincidence — although the Italian and Chilean parties have little in common.

Some media sources even announced that Cicciolina will be invited to Chile to support Reichell’s bid for political office. But Reichell herself denies the claims, attributing them to speculation on the part of her agent, Gustavo Pradenas.

A proponent of legalised abortion (which is still prohibited by law in Chile) and “free love”, Reichell told Con Tinta Negra that she believes “sex is therapeutic, a way of relieving stress.”

“Good sex can change your life, and by showing good sex on film, we have changed the lives of many people,” she declared. (END/2004)