José Ángel Antelo

José Ángel Antelo Paredes (born 7 May 1987) is a Spanish politician and a retired professional basketball player.

He played as power forward, and made his debut for Real Madrid in Euroleague aged 16, as well as winning the 2004 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship for Spain. After playing for several clubs between Liga ACB and LEB, he joined UCAM Murcia of the top flight in 2012, staying there until his retirement through injury in 2019.

After retiring from basketball, Antelo was elected to the city council in Murcia in 2019. He was Vox's lead candidate in the 2023 Murcian regional election. The party came third, and he was named vice president of the Council of Government of the Region of Murcia, led by the People's Party (PP). Nine months later, he resigned his government offices as part of a nationwide rupture between the PP and Vox. He was expelled from Vox's parliamentary group in March 2026 and retained his seat in the Regional Assembly of Murcia as an independent.

Professional career Real Madrid Antelo was born in Noia in Galicia, and his father was a civil servant. He made his debut for the first team in EuroLeague against Lukoil Academic, playing 20 minutes and recording seven points and as many rebounds; at 16 years and 8 months, he was Real Madrid's second youngest debutant after Roberto Núñez.

Antelo reflected in 2013 that he faced too high expectations due to making his debut for Real Madrid at a young age, and had even been considered for the NBA draft. With the latter in 2008–09, he averaged 9 points and 5.6 rebounds as they fought for promotion.

UCAM Murcia After being nominated as the best national player of the 2011–12 LEB Oro season with Cáceres Patrimonio de la Humanidad, Antelo signed with Liga ACB team UCAM Murcia. In late 2013, he suffered a cruciate ligament injury in a collision with Tibor Pleiß. He remained at Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia to work for its sports services,

National team career Antelo played in all Spanish youth teams, being with the U18 team that were champions of the FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship in 2004. He averaged 19.3 points and 10.5 rebounds in that tournament. He was named third on their list for the city of Murcia in the 2019 Spanish local elections, and was elected as his party took their first three seats on the council. Antelo's first proposal as councillor was for a 300 square metre flag of Spain, the biggest in the country, for the city's Plaza Circular; he wanted the military to raise the flag once a month, while playing the national anthem of Spain. After having received the most votes in the Region of Murcia in the 2019 Spanish general election, the national executive of Vox had changed the regional leadership due to a policy of avoiding powerful regional sectors, and Antelo was chosen due to being a loyalist to national leader Santiago Abascal. In September 2020, he was proclaimed regional president of the party as the only candidate with sufficient signatures. His party came third, rising five seats to nine.

The People's Party (PP) of incumbent President of the Region of Murcia, Fernando López Miras, required the support of Vox to gain a majority. Vox withdrew from the government in July 2024 as part of ruptures with the PP in several regions, due to disagreements on immigration; Antelo said it was necessary to avoid complicity in "every machete attack, every rape, and every beheading".

During the 2025 Torre-Pacheco unrest, Antelo said of illegal migrants "We're going to deport all of them, not one will remain". The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), Podemos and the United Left (IU) reported an alleged hate crime. In January 2026, with Antelo not having been called to testify, the investigation was extended for another six months.

On 26 February 2026, the entire executive of Vox in the Region of Murcia resigned due to disagreements with Antelo. Antelo then alleged that his signature was forged to remove him from office as Vox's spokesman in the regional assembly; the party's other members of the assembly expelled him from their group on 4 March, putting him in the mixed group with the sole deputies of Podemos and the United Left. He was supported by Javier Ortega Smith, Iván Espinosa de los Monteros and Juan García-Gallardo, three other figures who had lost roles through disputes with the party leadership.