The Cult Dossier · No. 145 · Apocalyptic / Doomsday
Israelites of the New Universal Covenant
Asociación Evangélica de la Misión Israelita del Nuevo Pacto Universal (AEMINPU)
1968 – present · Peru; Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil
XIII. FILLING THE GAPS — ASIA, AFRICA AND LATIN AMERICA
Fully religious — Andean-Jewish-Christian syncretism
Who led it
EZEQUIEL ATAUCUSI GAMONAL (1918–2000), an Andean peasant and former Adventist who said God gave him the tablets of the law on a mountain and named him the Holy Spirit incarnate and Prophet of God.
What it worshipped and taught
A synthesis of Andean tradition, Old Testament law and Adventism. Members keep the Saturday sabbath, observe Levitical dietary law, perform animal sacrifice at open-air altars, and grow their hair and beards long; women wear head coverings and long tunics. Doctrine holds that Peru is the new Israel and that the Andes are the place of refuge before the end. The movement colonised large tracts of Amazon frontier, founding agricultural settlements, and formed its own political party, which has won seats in the Peruvian congress.
Who was in it
Ezequiel Ataucusi Gamonal, who made TWO UNSUCCESSFUL RUNS FOR THE PRESIDENCY OF PERU; his son JONÁS ATAUCUSI MOLINA, the current leader, WHOM ADHERENTS BELIEVE TO BE THE REINCARNATION OF JESUS CHRIST; the Frente Popular Agrícola del Perú (FREPAP), the movement's political party.
How it ended, or where it stands
Active and large; electorally spent for now. Fifteen seats in 2020, none in 2021, under 2 per cent in 2026.
The dead
—
Of note
Included as one of the largest indigenous-led new religious movements in the Americas, essentially invisible in English-language literature. No pattern of violence or coercion is established; its inclusion corrects a geographical gap rather than recording harm.
Its timeline
- 1968 Ataucusi founds the movement after his claimed revelation.
- 1970s–90s Mass colonisation of Amazon frontier lands; dozens of agricultural settlements founded.
- 1989 Founds FREPAP as a political party.
- 2000 Ataucusi dies; followers initially expect his resurrection.
- JANUARY 2020 AFTER FORTY YEARS OF FAILING TO QUALIFY FOR A NATIONAL ELECTION, FREPAP WINS 15 SEATS in the Peruvian Congress at a special election, becoming THE THIRD-LARGEST LEGISLATIVE BLOC in a fragmented chamber of nine parties — one of the largest electoral results ever achieved by a new religious movement anywhere in the world.
- APRIL 2021 THE BREAKTHROUGH DOES NOT HOLD. At the general election FREPAP takes 4.63 per cent, below the 5 per cent threshold, and LOSES ALL FIFTEEN SEATS.
- APRIL 2026 At the general election it polls under 2 per cent and wins nothing in either chamber. The party is led by JONÁS ATAUCUSI MOLINA.
- Present Estimated 200,000+ adherents. The movement is large; its politics are currently marginal.