Due to his enormous influence and his absolute majorities in the Córdoba city council, he was nicknamed el califa rojo (the red Caliph).

[2] Anguita was born in Fuengirola, Málaga, on 21 November 1941,[3] into a family with a military background, son of an army sergeant and grandson of a guardia civil.

[5] Anguita, who had been a militant in Christian grassroots movements, joined the clandestine Communist Party of Spain (PCE) in 1972, when he already had obtained a post as teacher.

[7] His administration overcame the misgivings felt by many, contributing to the establishment of democratic normality and earning him appreciation as a leader in his party, as well as the tensions with the councilors of the PSOE and UCD.

[18][19] Anguita later declared that "the pincer" (la pinza) had been a fabrication of the media and disgruntled IU members such as Diego López Garrido and Cristina Almeida who ultimately formed the Democratic Party of the New Left.

[20] He left the general secretariat on 5 December 1998 during the XV Congress of the PCE, asking communist militants to demand the principles of anti-capitalism, anti-system and the fight for an egalitarian society.

[38] Second Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias, who mourned the death of "our best political reference",[39] as well as President of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel called him an "historic leader".

[43] In 2018 he co-authored along with Manolo Monereo and Héctor Illueca a series of provocative articles defending specific measures taken by the Italian government of alliance between the 5 Star Movement and the Northern League while feeding a discourse against the European Union.

[4] Back then he also expressed to journalist Pedro J. Ramírez his admiration for the validity of the political thought of José Antonio Primo de Rivera.

[45] He declared Vox to be not Fascist, but "representative of an extreme right [that would be a] daughter of a capitalism in crisis", unlike some Falanges that were "anti-capitalist" and "talked about the nationalization of banks".

[50][51] Julio Anguita Parrado, a journalist, died on 7 April 2003, while embedded as a foreign reporter to the US 3rd Infantry Division in the Iraq War, when the Headquarters of the 2nd Brigade were hit by an Iraqi ballistic missile south of Baghdad.