Ezequiel Ataucusi

Ezequiel Ataucusi Gamonal (10 April 1918 – 21 June 2000), also known as Brother Ezequiel, was a Peruvian politician and self-proclaimed prophet of the religious movement he founded, the Evangelical Association of the Israelite Mission of the New Universal Covenant (AEMINPU) and their theocratic party known as Agricultural People's Front of Peru (FREPAP).

Early life Ataucusi was born in 1918 in Huarhua, a village of Cotahuasi near Arequipa into a poor family.

Spiritual leader 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. and the religion was officially recognized in Peru in 1969. The founding of the church happened when many rural Peruvians faced a decline in socioeconomic standards into the 1970s. Ataucusi would often state that the apocalypse was approaching and would preach that he delayed such events. By the 1990s, his number of followers ranged from 60,000 to 200,000.

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.

Death and legacy 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. As his followers waited for his resurrection and his body began to decompose, Ataucusi's body was placed in a glass coffin. After not resurrecting, many followers became disillusioned with him.

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