Peru shamans predict fall of Venezuela leader
LIMA, Peru—A group of shamans gathered Monday by the sea in the Miraflores district of Peru’s capital, Lima, to carry out an annual ritual in which they make predictions for the upcoming year.
Dressed in traditional Andean ponchos and headdresses, the group performed a ceremony and made predictions about the course of international relations, ongoing conflicts and the fate of world leaders.
The shamans said Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will be removed from office, adding that global conflicts like the war in Ukraine will continue.
“We have asked for Maduro to leave, to retire, for President Donald Trump of the United States to be able to remove him, and we have visualized that next year this will happen,” said shaman Ana María Simeón.
Mixed record
But the group has a mixed record with its annual predictions.
Last year, they warned a “nuclear war” would break out between Israel and Gaza, where a ceasefire is currently in place.
The group, however, had correctly predicted in December 2023 that former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, who had been imprisoned for human rights abuses, would perish within 12 months.
Hallucinogenic concoctions
At the start of Monday’s ceremony, the shamans met to drink hallucinogenic concoctions derived from native plants—including Ayahuasca and the San Pedro cactus—which are believed to give them the power to predict the future.
They then placed blankets with yellow flowers, coca leaves, swords and other objects on La Herradura beach, asking for positive energy for the new year.
Prayers to the gods
After dancing in circles and playing ancestral instruments, the shamans asked for peace in the Middle East, an end to the conflict in Ukraine and Maduro’s fall.
The prayers to the gods, performed amid dances and flowers and incense, were intended to encourage leaders to make good decisions.
But the shamans also predicted natural disasters such as earthquakes and climatic phenomena.
