Antonio Maíllo Cañadas (born 2 November 1966) is a Spanish former politician of the Communist Party of Spain (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 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.

Biography

Maíllo was born in

Lucena, Córdoba Lucena () is a Spanish city and municipality, in the province of Córdoba, autonomous community of Andalusia, 60 km southeast of the provincial capital Córdoba. Its circa 42,000 people makes Lucena the second largest municipality in the ...

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

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

at the University of Seville, developing a lifelong passion with Latin and Ancient Greek. He also began his political activism, opposing Spain's accession to NATO in 1986. After graduating, he became a Latin teacher at schools in Sanlúcar de Barrameda 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 conti ...

, and

Aracena Aracena () is a town and municipality located in the province of Huelva, south-western 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. Openly gay, Maíllo says that he never received homophobic abuse from students, even when handing out punishments. 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 Baeza may refer to: * Baeza, Ecuador * Baeza, Spain ** University of Baeza ** Baeza Cathedral * '' Brusqeulia baeza'', a species of moth People * Baeza (rapper) (born 1993), American rapper, singer, actor, hip hop producer, and songwriter * Acar ...

in September 2014 for his work for LGBT rights. He was the first openly gay candidate for President of the Regional Government of Andalusia 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 co ...

. In the election, the United Left 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 the autonomous community of Andalusia. All 109 seats in the Parliament were up for election. As a result of the previous election, the Span ...

, 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 the United Left in her youth, she then set up her own platform, Anticapitalistas. She was a Member of the European Parliament representing Po ...

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 on the campaign trail in December 2015 and was unable to work for three months. He was diagnosed with cancer, which was a reason for him leaving politics in 2019. In February 2021, he announced that he was free of cancer.

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 Gay politicians Spanish gay men LGBT legislators in Spain Politicians from Andalusia