Rocío Monasterio San Martín is an architect, businesswoman and Spanish politician. The leader of the Madrid branch of the Spanish political party Vox, she serves as a member of the 11th term of the Assembly of Madrid.
Biography
Born in 1974 her birthplace is equally reported to be either Cuba or Madrid. Her parents were the owners of the Central de Azúcar del Golfo in the Caribbean island. Her father opened the first KFC in Spain. Monasterio reportedly began studies in architecture at the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Madrid in 1992. 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. Monasterio and her architecture firm focused on acquiring properties and turning them into high-end lofts. She earned her degree in architecture in 2009. 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.
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. In 2000, Monasterio founded her architecture firm called Rocío Monasterio and Associates.
Political career
Rocío Monasterio joined Vox in 2014. Currently she is the president of VOX Madrid. Monasterio is the president of Vox Madrid, and the vice-secretary of Social Matters of the party. Monasterio is against abortion. 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. 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". 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. Monasterio is a speaker for HazteOir, having supported the latter group's polemical bus sporting a message that denied the existence of transexuality in children. Monasterio is against the practice of surrogacy and talking to children about choices in sexual orientation such as zoophilia, which regional authorities have stated do not exist as she describes. She stated she'd move the Madrid Gay Pride Parade, the largest in Europe, from the city centre to the Casa de Campo park, and that marriage is between a man and a woman, that other unions are civil unions, not marriages. 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. Monasterio is a climate change denier, would like to deport all illegal immigrants and believes criminals should receive life in prison. Monasterio condemns the Cuban government of Raúl and Fidel, and successor, Miguel Díaz-Canel.
