Monica Leal becomes first female president of the Moors & Christians Xàbia
She takes over from Abel Moll who has decided not to continue at helm after two years directing the festivities.
The Moors and Christians in Xàbia have already started planning the 2025 edition of the festivities which honour Sant Jaume and the first step has been to ratify a new board of directors of the Junta de Festes which must be renewed every two years according to the statutes of the organising body.
At the presentation of this year’s festivities, the current president, Abel Moll, announced his intention not to continue at the helm, having completed his two-year term, and today it has been confirmed that Mónica Leal Gómez, from Christian Filà Faciners, will take on the responsibility for the next two years, becoming the first woman to lead the Junta de Festes in its 45-year history.
The new president will not be alone in office as she will have the advice of a new, practically renewed board of directors with new faces. Leal will continue to be supported by Rubén Femenia (from the Christian Filà Pirates de Sant Jaume) who has already held the position of Vice-President of the Board for the last few years and that of President from 2019 to 2022 but will also be joined by Violeta Lora (from the Moorish Filà Touaregs) as Treasurer and Mari Ángeles Caballero (Christian Filà Trabuquers) of secretary.
Mónica acknowledges that she faces an “exciting challenge that I would never have imagined taking on”. Her festive curriculum supports her since she has been part of the festival since she was 7 years old and has held the position of Mora Standard Bearer in 2009 and that of Captain with Moorish Filà Xibia in 2015, knowing what it is like to carry the weight of representation of the festival from another perspective.
The new president feels ready to take over from the charismatic Moll and that is why she has surrounded herself with a board of directors “of complete confidence”. She is also aware that she has the support of the other members of the different groups and of those people specialised in each of the areas involved in the fiestas. The last presidents of the fiesta are, for her, “absolute references” and she admits to remembering with affection and admiration veteran presidents such as Vicente Montaner and Jorge Ibeid.
Among her objectives is to consolidate the good image that the fiesta has achieved in the last decade and to continue growing, attracting more and more residents of Xàbia and visitors from outside the municipality so that they can feel involved.
