Antonio Maíllo Cañadas (born 2 November 1966) is a Spanish politician of the

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain (; PCE) is a communist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is currently part of Sumar. Two of its politicians are Spanish government ministers: Yolanda Díaz (Minister of L ...

(PCE). From 2013 to 2019 he was the general coordinator of United Left/The Greens–Assembly for Andalusia (IULV–CA) and he was a deputy in the

Parliament of Andalusia The Parliament of Andalusia () is the legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia instituted by the Andalusian Charter of Autonomy of 1981. It is elected by the residents of Andalusia every four years. Functions *To elect the ...

from 2015 to 2019, serving as spokesman of the IULV–CA and

Adelante Andalucía "Adelante" is a Spanish word meaning ''forward''. It may also refer to: Music * "Adelante" (Operación Triunfo song), a song from ''Operación Triunfo'' fifth series (2004) * "Adelante" (Sash! song), 2000 Sash! song featuring Peter Faulhammer & ...

groups. In 2024, he became general co-ordinator of the United Left (IU).

Early and personal life

Maíllo was born in

Lucena, Córdoba Lucena () is a municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is the second-most populated municipality in the province. A major Jewish centre from the 9th to the 12th centuries, Lucena ...

, to a religious family dedicated to

saddle A saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not know ...

making and later to the local timber industry. While his family wanted him to become a lawyer, he instead studied

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

at the

University of Seville The University of Seville (''Universidad de Sevilla'') is a university in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. Founded under the name of ''Colegio Santa María de Jesús'' in 1505, in 2022 it has a student body of 57,214,U-Ranking Universidades español ...

, developing a lifelong passion with

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

. He also began his political activism, opposing Spain's accession to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

in 1986. After graduating, he became a Latin teacher at schools in

Sanlúcar de Barrameda Sanlúcar may refer to: * Sanlúcar de Barrameda, a city in the Province of Cádiz, Spain * Sanlúcar de Guadiana, a village in the Province of Huelva, Spain * Sanlúcar la Mayor, a city in the Province of Seville, Spain *Sanlúcar de Albaida, forme ...

in the

Province of Cádiz Cádiz is a Provinces of Spain, province of southern Spain, in the southwestern part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is the southernmost part of mainland Spain, as well as the southernmost part of ...

, and

Aracena Aracena () is a town and municipality located in the province of Huelva, southwestern Spain. , the city has a population of 7,814 inhabitants. The town derived its name from the Sierra de Aracena, which is part of the Sierra Morena system. Arac ...

in the

Province of Huelva Huelva () is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by Portugal, the provinces of Badajoz, Seville, and Cádiz, and the Atlantic Ocean. Its capital is Huelva. Its area is ...

. Openly gay, Maíllo says that he never received homophobic abuse from students, even when handing out punishments.

Political career

In June 2013, Maíllo was elected general coordinator of the United Left/The Greens–Assembly for Andalusia (IULV–CA), with a record 83% of the votes. He was given an award by the city of Baeza in September 2014 for his work for

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, Gay men, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the Capital punishmen ...

. He was the first openly gay candidate for

President of the Regional Government of Andalusia The president of the Regional Government of Andalusia () or, simply the president of Andalusia (), is the premier of the devolution, devolved government of the Spain, Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. The p ...

when he ran in the

2015 Andalusian regional election The 2015 Andalusian regional election was held on Sunday, 22 March 2015, to elect the 10th Parliament of the autonomous community of Andalusia. All 109 seats in the Parliament were up for election. President Susana Díaz chose to terminate the c ...

. In the election, the United Left (IU) had its worst Andalusian result in history, falling from twelve seats to five amidst the rise of a new party on the left, Podemos. For the

2018 Andalusian regional election The 2018 Andalusian regional election was held on Sunday, 2 December 2018, to elect the 11th Parliament of Andalusia, Parliament of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. All 109 seats in the Parliament were up for ...

, his group formed

alongside Podemos, with Podemos leader

Teresa Rodríguez María Teresa Rodríguez-Rubio Vázquez (; born 18 September 1981) is a Spanish politician. Active in United Left (Spain), United Left in her youth within the platform Espacio Alternativo, in 2008 the organization split from IU. She then particip ...

the presidential candidate and himself the vice-presidential candidate. This candidacy took 17 seats, three fewer than its parts had taken in 2015. In June 2019, he left his parliamentary seat and party coordinator role, and returned to teaching Latin. Maíllo was hospitalised with a digestive

haemorrhage Bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage or blood loss, is blood escaping from the circulatory system from damaged blood vessels. Bleeding can occur internally, or externally either through a natural opening such as the mouth, nose, ear, urethra, vag ...

on the campaign trail in December 2015 and was unable to work for three months. He was diagnosed with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, which was a reason for him leaving politics in 2019. In February 2021, he announced that he was free of cancer. In 2024, Maíllo returned to politics and ran for general co-ordinator of the IU. He took the majority of votes in the primary and was confirmed in May at the party's 13th federal congress, with 79% of members in favour and a 19% abstention. In his speech, he said that IU would remain part of Sumar and warned against movements that put too much power in their leaders, instead committing to keeping IU as a federation of allied parties.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maillo, Antonio 1966 births Living people People from Lucena, Córdoba University of Seville alumni Communist Party of Spain politicians Members of the 10th Parliament of Andalusia Members of the 11th Parliament of Andalusia Spanish gay politicians LGBTQ legislators in Spain Politicians from Andalusia