Pioneering Spanish trade union leader Marcelino Camacho dies at 92

Marcelino Camacho, one of Spain’s foremost union leaders and the first secretary general of a top workers’ federation, has died at 92.

Camacho died in a Madrid hospital Friday after several days in serious condition, his union, Comisiones Obreras said.

A committed communist, Camacho fought in the losing Republican army during Spain’s 1936-39 Civil War and then spent 10 years in prison as a staunch opponent of the 1939-75 military dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco.

He founded the initially clandestine and communist Comisiones Obreras and led it to become, alongside the General Workers Union, one of Spain’s two largest trade unions.

Camacho is survived by Josefina Samper, his wife of 61 years, a son and a daughter. By The Associated Press