This person's about to be hugged by past comrade (5)
I believe the answer is:
amigo
'comrade' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'this person's about to be hugged by past' is the wordplay.
'this person's' becomes 'im' (this person means the crossword setter themselves).
'about' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'to be hugged by' indicates putting letters inside (I've seen this in other clues).
'past' becomes 'ago' ('ago' can be similar in meaning to 'past').
'im' written backwards gives 'mi'.
'mi' inserted inside 'ago' is 'AMIGO'.
(Other definitions for amigo that I've seen before include "China (in Spain's view)" , "buddy abroad?" , "Friend, comrade" , "A Mexican pal" , "Spanish word meaning friend" .)