Pelao Vade

Rodrigo Ernesto Rojas Vade (born 10 October 1983), widely known by his nickname Pelao Vade, is a Chilean former political activist who became one of the most recognizable faces of the 2019–2020 Chilean protests. In 2021, he was elected to the Chilean Constitutional Convention, the body tasked with drafting a new constitution for Chile. He later resigned in disgrace after it emerged that he had fabricated a cancer diagnosis—a lie that had underpinned both his public profile and his election campaign. He is openly gay.

During the protests, Rojas became a symbol of popular anger at Chile's private healthcare system, appearing shirtless on the front lines of street demonstrations with visible scars and medical catheters on his body, which he claimed were the result of leukaemia. The story proved to be a fabrication: in September 2021 the newspaper La Tercera revealed he had never had cancer, and he later admitted the underlying condition was syphilis. The scandal prompted his resignation from the Convention's executive board and, eventually, from the Convention itself. In February 2023, he was convicted of residual fraud against at least 30 victims who had donated money based on his false illness claims.

Early life

Rojas was born and raised in Puente Alto, a working-class municipality on the southern outskirts of Santiago. His father worked for the Compañía de Teléfonos de Chile (CTC) and his mother was a homemaker.