Ezequiel Ataucusi

Ataucusi was born in 1918 in Huarhua, a village of Cotahuasi near Arequipa into a poor family.[1][2] He held many jobs as a shoemaker, railroad worker, soldier and carpenter.[1][2]

In the 1950s while in his forties, Ataucusi experienced many issues with his life and converted from Roman Catholicism to the Seventh-day Adventist Church.[1][2] While experiencing a serious illness, he reported that he visited a "third heaven" and addressed himself as a prophet, writing the Ten Commandments on a blackboard saying he was tasked with delivering the commandments for a second time.[1][2] After the incident, he was removed from the Seventh-day Adventist Church,[2] subsequently beginning to evangelize rural Peruvians in 1956.[1]

The Evangelical Association of the Israelite Mission of the New Universal Covenant (Asociación Evangélica de la Misión Israelita del Nuevo Pacto Universal - AEMINPU) was created by Ataucusi in 1968[3] and the religion was officially recognized in Peru in 1969.[2] The religion is a mix of Seventh-day Adventism, Judaism, Inca mysticism and Maoism.[2][4] The founding of the church happened when many rural Peruvians faced a decline in socioeconomic standards into the 1970s.[2] As the internal conflict in Peru intensified, followers flocked to AEMINPU.[4]

Ataucusi preached that he was chosen by God to create a new Israel in the Amazon Rainforest as a punishment of the Israeli people for their losing faith.[2] Followers of the movement regarded Ataucusi as a prophet and "the reincarnation of the Holy Spirit".[5][3] He gradually reduced the importance of Jesus in his movement.[1] The Guardian described him as "a self-styled spiritual leader who called himself the 'Christ of the west'".[6] Ataucusi would often state that the apocalypse was approaching and would preach that he delayed such events.[2] His followers were required to wear robes modeled from the Old Testament, though Ataucusi never wore them saying that he would only do so when the apocalypse occurred.[2] Throughout this time, he had several wives and was known to be very sexually active, according to The Daily Telegraph.[2]

His party, the Agricultural People's Front of Peru (FREPAP), was officially founded by Ataucusi on 30 September 1989.[7] By the 1990s, his number of followers ranged from 60,000 to 200,000.[2] In 1995, investigations were opened against Ataucusi surrounding allegations of killing disagreeing followers and supposed links to Shining Path, though none of the accusations were ever confirmed.[8]

He was the party's candidate for president of Peru three times, for the 1990 election, 1995 election and 2000 election, though he was never elected for any political office.[9]

He died in Miraflores, Lima of kidney failure and his followers held a three-day funeral, waiting for his resurrection beside his body decorated with gold jewelry.[6] As his followers waited for his resurrection and his body began to decompose, Ataucusi's body was placed in a glass coffin.[8] After not resurrecting, many followers became disillusioned with him.[4]

Ataucusi's son Jonas was chosen as his successor[4] and his party eventually grew within the Peruvian Congress following the 2020 Peruvian parliamentary election.[9]