Rocío Monasterio San Martín (born 1974) is an architect, businesswoman and Spanish politician. The leader of the Madrid branch of the Spanish political party Vox,[1] she serves as a member of the 11th term of the Assembly of Madrid.
Born in 1974 her birthplace is equally reported to be either Cuba or Madrid.[2][3][4] Her parents were the owners of the Central de Azúcar del Golfo in the caribbean island.[5][n. 1] Her father opened the first KFC in Spain.[5]
Monasterio reportedly began studies in architecture at the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Madrid (ETSAM) in 1992.[8] Although she appears to have been a good student, it took her some years to submit the final project for her degree, years in which she was already working in the field of architecture.
On May 15, 2001, Monasterio married real estate developer Iván Espinosa de los Monteros.[9][10][11] Monasterio (still without architect degree) and her architecture firm focused on acquiring properties and turning them into high-end lofts.[12][11]
She earned her degree as architect in 2009 (the same year she joined the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid (es)). This circumstance has led to the questioning of several plans and building certifications, she reportedly signed in the capacity of "facultative director" at least as back in time as 2003. The projects include partial demolitions for which she implicitly claimed to have the professional qualification which is condicio sine qua non to sign them off.[13][14][n. 2]
Professional career
Monasterio studied architecture at the Technical University of Madrid, and specialized in Urban Environments. In 1997 she received a prize from Otis International for her design of 3000 homes in Hong Kong.[16] In 2000, Monasterio founded her architecture firm called Rocío Monasterio and Associates.[17][18]
Monasterio at a Vox presentation in Vistalegre.
Political career
Rocío Monasterio joined Vox in 2014. Currently she is the president of VOX Madrid.[19]
Monasterio is the president of Vox Madrid, and the vice-secretary of Social Matters of the party.[7][20][21][22]
Monasterio (on right) at a HazteOir demostration
Monasterio is against abortion.[23][24] In a march on April 15, 2018, she affirmed that her party, Vox, stands for the rights of the unborn. Monasterio is opposed to radical feminism stating that it tends to demonize the traditional family.[25][26] In December 2018, Monasterio stated that her life has been threatened and that she's been physically assaulted, spit on, and insulted as well as hit by rocks by "feminists".[27] Monasterio wants to replace Violence Against Women laws with Violence Against Family, to protect not only women who are victims of violence but any family member who may be a victim of family violence.[28][29] Monasterio is a speaker for HazteOir (English: Make Yourself Heard), having supported the latter group's polemical bus sporting a message that denied the existence of transexuality in children.[30][31]
Monasterio is against the practice of surrogacy and talking to children about choices in sexual orientation such as zoophilia.[32] She stated she'd move the Madrid Gay Pride Parade, the largest in Europe, from the city centre to the Casa de Campo park,[33] and that marriage is between a man and a woman, that other unions are civil unions, not marriages.[34] She was one of the promoters of a requirement before the Spanish Ombudsman filed in November 2016 criticising that the regional government of Madrid had banned conversion therapies to "cure gays", asking for a repeal initiative to be formulated before the Constitutional Court.[35] Monasterio is a climate change denier,[36] would like to deport all illegal immigrants and believes criminals should receive life in prison.[37][38] Monasterio condemns the Cuban government of Raúl and Fidel, and successor, Miguel Díaz-Canel.[39]
References
Informational notes
↑According to the sources placing her birthplace in Cuba, she lived in Cuba as a child, but was relocated to Spain with her parents.[6][7]
↑Clients of the architectural firm headed by Monasterio who happen to have bought or dwelled into these irregular lofts include fellow member of the Assembly of Madrid Ignacio Aguado and actor Arturo Valls (es).[15]