PSI affiliate union leader in Guatemala receives Global Union Award

A leader forged in resistance and in the defence of workers' dignity, Xiomara Conde Pacheco personifies the struggle for trade union freedom in Guatemala. Her trajectory of more than twenty years in the trade union struggle reflects an unwavering commitment and a firm response to aggressions against the working class, which positions her as a reference of integrity and as a defender of collective processes in Guatemala.

Very moved, at the moment she received the news that she had won the award, Xiomara Conde declared:

"I want to thank all the PSI team that makes it possible to make visible part of what we live in some trade unionists here in Guatemala, the repression that we live. I want to tell our comrades that the struggle is not in vain, that we continue, that we continue to do our bit to be the change that the world needs.

Xiomara is emphatic in pointing out that being a woman and a trade union leader in Guatemala implies a differentiated vulnerability and her leadership is projected towards the future through institutional strengthening. Her vision defends an independent trade unionism, capable of denouncing irregularities even within the state itself, under the premise that the union should not "lend itself to corruption".

"The presentation of this award to Xiomara represents the recognition of a life dedicated to social justice and the strengthening of democratic organisations in highly complex contexts. A leader who not only survived the system, but now seeks to transform it to strengthen the trade union movement throughout the region".

Euan Gibb, PSI Inter-America Regional Secretary

Now, with the support of Public Services International (PSI), Xiomara is pushing for the case of Xiomara, who faced political dismissal in retaliation for denouncing irregular government hiring, to be taken to the ILO. The objective transcends her personal situation: it seeks to set a historic international precedent on the protection of freedom of association and the irremovability of leadership in contexts of political persecution.

The Febe Elizabeth Velasquez Trade Union Award is a global award, established in 1991 by the FNV, named after the Salvadoran trade union activist and general secretary of the FENASTRAS trade union murdered in 1989 at the age of 27 for her trade union activities and aims to pay tribute to trade union leaders who, working under very difficult circumstances and taking enormous personal risks, resolutely defend trade union rights in countries where those rights are being violated.

"It is deeply symbolic that the Febe Elizabeth Velásquez Trade Union Award 2026, awarded by the Dutch trade union confederation FNV, returns to Central America to recognise the struggle and resistance of leader Xiomara Conde," said Claudia Sule, PSI Sub-Regional Secretary for Central America. The figure of Febe Elizabeth Velásquez transcends borders as an icon of the Salvadoran labour movement and a pillar of the regional trade union collective memory. Her legacy is marked by the tragic attack on 31 October 1989 against the headquarters of FENASTRAS, where death squads killed nine leaders, including Febe. At that time, FENASTRAS was leading the social demands in one of the bloodiest periods of the civil war, with this attack occurring just eleven days before the historic 'Final Offensive'."