Articulate, forceful and attractive, she was hailed in the international press as the archetypal glamorous Latin American revolutionary.
For Spain's ABC newspaper, she was a "Chilean Che Guevara". In Britain, the Guardian compared her to Mexico's Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos.
Fast-forward three years and Ms Vallejo is still in politics, but these days she is preparing for parliament rather than the barricades.