Mónica Tamara Arce Castro (born 2 March 1986) is a Chilean politician who serves as deputy. Since 11 March 2022, she has served as a member of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

representing the

District 12 District 12 may refer to: * District 12 (Ho Chi Minh city), Vietnam *Schwamendingen, Zürich, Switzerland, also known as District 12 * District 12, an electoral district of Malta * District 12 (Hunger Games), fictional district in the Hunger Games ...

( La Florida,

La Pintana La Pintana is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. La Pintana is home to Antumapu, the agricultural and veterinary sciences campus of University of Chile, Chile's oldest university. Demographics Accordi ...

Pirque Pirque () is a commune of Chile in Cordillera Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region; it is located 2.8 kilometers southeast of Puente Alto and 21.3 kilometers south-southeast of the center of Santiago. It is situated at the base of the Cajón ...

Puente Alto Puente Alto (Spanish: "Tall Bridge") is a city and commune of Chile. It is the capital of the Cordillera Province in the Santiago Metropolitan Region, and is located in the south-east corner of the Greater Santiago conurbation. Puente Alto has ...

San José de Maipo San José de Maipo is the name of a commune in Chile and the city within it, located in Cordillera Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region, some 48 kilometers south-east of capital Santiago, bordered on the east by Argentina which lies across the ...

). Initially elected as an independent under the

Humanist Party The Humanist International (also known as the International Humanist Party) is a consortium of political parties adhering to universal humanism founded in 1952. The five basic principles of Humanist International are: # The value of human li ...

quota in the

Apruebo Dignidad (; in English, ''Approve Dignity'', AD) was a democratic socialist Chilean electoral coalition officially created on 11 January 2021, by the Broad Front and Chile Digno in preparation for the Constitutional Convention election. History The ...

alliance, she currently aligns with the Party for Democracy (PPD) and independents in the lower chamber.

Biography

Mónica Arce was born on 2 March 1986 in Santiago to Sergio Enrique Arce Álvarez and María Teresa Castro Carranza. She completed her secondary studies at the Colegio de Adultos Manuel Bulnes in 2004 and obtained a degree in Logistics Engineering from the Instituto Profesional Cámara de Comercio de Santiago. Before entering politics, she worked in logistics and co‑founded the Fundación Alma Libre, an organization that supports trans children and their families.

Political career

Arce was elected in the

2021 Chilean general election General elections were held in Chile on 21 November 2021, including presidential, parliamentary and regional elections. Voters went to the polls to elect a President of Chile, president to serve a four-year term, 27 of 50 members of the Senate ...

as a Deputy for the 2022–2026 legislative period, securing her seat with just over 1 % of the vote. She ran as an independent on the Humanist Party quota, within the Dignidad Ahora pact. Since taking office, she has served on the permanent commissions for

Education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

and

Family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

, presiding over the Education commission during part of her term. Additionally, she has participated in investigative commissions, including those addressing the San Ramón school infrastructure collapse, irregularities at the Medical Legal Service, and the implementation of the national public education framework.

Political positions & legislative work

A firm advocate of

LGBT+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...

and

trans rights The legal status of transgender people varies greatly around the world. Some countries have enacted laws protecting the rights of transgender individuals, but others have criminalized their gender identity or expression. In many cases, transg ...

, Arce condemned a 2024

Televisión Nacional de Chile Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN) is a Chilean Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. It was founded by order of President Eduardo Frei Montalva and it was launched nationwide on 18 September 1969. Since then, the company has been re ...

(TVN) report on trans children, calling it “clearly conservative and insensitive". In November of the same year, she criticized a report by a congressional commission that recommended suspending the “Chile Crece con Orgullo” program, stating that it “hides transphobia behind pseudo-evidence.” In March 2025, she was referred to the Chamber’s Ethics Commission after missing a mandatory drug test. Arce argued her absence was due to her participation at the 69th session of the

UN Commission on the Status of Women The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW or UNCSW) is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the principal organs of the United Nations. CSW has been described as the UN organ promoting gende ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. In July 2025, Arce announced legal action under the Ley Karin against the Undersecretary of Higher Education, citing political harassment for pressure she received during a controversial vote on teacher training reforms.

References

External links

BCN Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arce, Mónica 1986 births Living people Humanist Party (Chile) politicians Deputies of the LVI Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Politicians from Santiago, Chile