Julio Anguita

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.

Anguita in La Moncloa next to PM José María Aznar in 1999
Anguita in 2013
Anguita in 2015, next to Alberto Garzón , during the yearly festivity of the PCE