Born in Matanzas, Cuba in 1967, Montes de Oca studied Art History at the University of Havana. As a researcher, curator and art critic based in Havana, she has curated numerous exhibitions and has published widely on Cuban, Latin American and Spanish art.
She has won several prizes, including Curaduría del 1er Salón de Arte Cubano Contemporáneo (1995), the Premio de Crítica dArte “Marcelo Pogolotti” (1998), the Premio “Guy Pérez Cisneros” de Crítica de Arte in the category of Reseña (1999) and in the category of Essay (2001). Recently, she co-authored Memory: Cuban Visual Art of the 20th Century/Memoria, Artes Visuales Cubanas del Siglo XX (2002, edition in English, and 2003, edition in Spanish) and co-curated the project Doble Seducción (Sala Amadís, INJUVE, Madrid (2003). She also produced an exhibition and catalogue entitled Labores domésticas, Versiones para otra historia de la visualidad en Cuba: Género, raza y grupos sociales (Pinar del Río and Havana, 2003-2004). She coordinated the conference/theoretical event at both the 8th and 9th Havana Biennials (2003, 2006).