Zuliana Lainez elected as new IFJ president at IFJ Centenary Congress in Paris

On 6 May, Zuliana Lainez Otero, a Peruvian journalist and the president of the Asociación Nacional de Periodistas del Perú (ANP), was elected president of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) at the Federation's Centenary World Congress in Paris. She is the first woman from Latin America and the Caribbean to lead the world's largest organisation of journalists.

IFJ's newly elected president, Zuliana Lainez Otero. Credit: Frédéric Moreau de Bellaing

Zuliana Lainez Otero (Lima, 1977) is also the vice president of the Federation of Journalists of Latin America and the Caribbean (FePALC) and a former senior vice president of the IFJ. After serving on the IFJ's Executive Committee for 16 years, Lainez succeeded Dominique Pradalié (SNJ-France), who had led the Federation for the previous four years. She is the third woman president of the IFJ in its 100-year history, after French journalist Pradalié (2022-2026) and Belgian journalist Mia Doornaert (1986-1990).

A Peruvian journalist and a trade union leader, Lainez works as Opinion Editor at the online newspaper Crónica Viva and as Editor of International News at ANP Radio. She is also a lecturer in press law and the right to information.

Alongside her journalism career, Lainez has been involved in the trade union movement since completing her studies at the Jaime Bausate y Meza University School of Journalism in Lima. She joined the ANP upon graduating and has since held various positions within the union, including as a grassroots activist, presidency of the ANP in Lima and general secretary. In 2021, she became the first woman to hold the ANP's presidency in its 97-year history.

Her election marks a milestone in the representation of the Global South within international governance structures, and it recognises Lainez's long-standing dedication to defending labour rights, advocating for the safety of journalists and promoting freedom of expression

The newly elected IFJ President Zuliana Lainez, said: "We are in a challenging period for journalism around the world. In recent years, we have seen a staggering number of journalists killed in Palestine, Ukraine, Lebanon, Sudan and Latin America, which is unprecedented in history. The levels of impunity for these crimes are also unprecedented. As a global organisation, it is our duty to ensure that these crimes are prosecuted in international courts.

"It is historic that Latin America should be at the helm of a world federation on the centenary of its foundation. This moment has taken a hundred years of the organisation's history to arrive, and now it is our continent's turn. I have made it clear that we are not electing a president here; we are electing a person to lead a team [...] We Latin Americans, like many of our colleagues from the South, know what it means to resist and fight. This history haunts us, but it is also a driving force in facing today's challenges."