In the heart of the Amazon, where Peru, Brazil and Colombia meet, members of a quirky religious mashup of evangelical Protestantism and Incan rites await the end times in their remote “Promised Land.”
Members of the Israelites of the New Universal Pact — a religion that has nothing to do with Judaism — farm and sell their wares to townsfolk and occasional tourists while they await a post-Judgement Day return of the Inca empire and a new world order.
Considered a sect by some, the members have their own bible and commandments, and of course a prophet in the form of Ezequiel Ataucusi Gamonal, who died in 2000 and was replaced by his son Jonas.
Photo: AFP
“God commands us to grow our beards and hair,” said a member named Gustavo, who sells vegetables and sweets in the Peruvian town of Islandia.
Members of the community greet each other with a fraternal: “Peace of God, brother” and are loathe to give their full names.
“All those who bind themselves to God must conform to his principles,” including renouncing alcohol, said Gustavo, waving the bible he carries with him everywhere.
Photo: AFP
Gamonal — a former Catholic and later Seventh-day Adventist — created the Israelites of the New Universal Pact in the 1970s among inhabitants of the Peruvian Andes.
The movement later moved to the Amazon rainforest, which adherents view as the “Promised Land” and the only place that will survive the end of the world, said Lionel Rossini, a cinematographer who specializes in the tri-border region.
The movement recruited followers mainly among Indigenous landless people, but also former guerrillas of the now defunct Shining Path insurgency, and in poor neighborhoods of Amazonian cities.
By 2000, the religion counted nearly 200,000 members — although many left that same year after self-proclaimed prophet Gamonal’s promised resurrection three days after his death never happened.
Many settled in villages along the Javari and Amazon rivers, including in the town of Islandia, which resembles a jungle Venice with its wooden houses on stilts in the Javari River.
There is not a car or motorbike in the town of 3,000 people, about one-third of whom are members of the religion.
Men in the group wear their hair and beards long, and many dress in multicolored cassocks. Women dress demurely, with long sleeves, and cover their hair.
Every Saturday, they gather to make burned offerings of cows, goats and chickens.
They live a mostly farming lifestyle, producing rice and vegetables, some of which they sell.
“People live on fishing, trade, a little of everything... There are also officials” in the local government, said city secretary Linda Pimentel Santa Cruz, who is not a member, on a recent visit.
Rossini said that the members “are reputed to be hard workers because for them, their work is part of God’s work.”
Islandia is a gateway to the Javari Valley — the second-largest Indigenous territory of Brazil and home to what are said to be the last uncontacted tribes in the world.
Santa Cruz and others are working to turn Islandia with its sole restaurant and a fresh produce market under construction, into a tourism attraction.
However, they are having to contend with an ominous presence of countless criminals in that part of the dense jungle: drug traffickers, illegal gold miners and loggers, poachers, and unlicensed fishers.
Despite the presence of Peruvian army boats, the city “is a nest of traffickers of all kinds,” said a frequent visitor who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal.
Islandia today produces a large part of the vegetables consumed in the region, playing an increasingly important role in the local economy and trade.
Members of the Israelites of the New Universal Pact have also created their own political party — the People’s Agricultural Front of Peru — which has several municipal, even mayoral seats in Peru, and surprised many by obtaining more than 8 percent of the vote in parliamentary elections in 2020.
The party advocates the adoption of divine law and agriculture as the best means of combating poverty.
“Even if they are isolated, by their number and by their work, the Israelites [members] have succeeded in establishing themselves as decisive actors in this Peruvian Far East ... a pioneering front that is advancing,” Rossini said.
THE TRAGEDY OF PUNCH: Footage of the seven-month-old Japanese macaque has gone viral online after he was rejected by his mother and formed a bond with a soft toy A baby monkey in Japan has captured hearts around the world after videos of him being bullied by other monkeys and rejected by his mother went viral last week. Punch, a Japanese macaque, was born in July last year at Ichikawa City Zoo. He has drawn international attention after zookeepers gave him a stuffed orangutan toy after he was abandoned by his mother. Without maternal guidance to help him integrate, Punch has turned to the toy for comfort. He has been filmed multiple times being dragged and chased by older Japanese macaques inside the enclosure. Early clips showed him wandering alone with
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday said he did not take his security for granted, after he was evacuated from his residence for several hours following a bomb threat sent to a Chinese dance group. Albanese was evacuated from his Canberra residence late on Tuesday following the threat, and returned a few hours later after nothing suspicious was found. The bomb scare was among several e-mails threatening Albanese sent to a representative of Shen Yun, a classical Chinese dance troupe banned in China that is due to perform in Australia this month, a spokesperson for the group said in a statement. The e-mail
‘OCCUPATION’: Hong Kong said it had lodged ‘stern protests’ with Panama’s consulate, and would ‘staunchly support’ the rights and interests of Hong Kong companies Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino on Monday ordered the temporary occupation of two ports run by a unit of CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd following the Supreme Court’s ruling against the firm’s concession, escalating a dispute that has become a proxy battle between the US and China in Latin America. Mulino said in a speech that the administration and operation of the two ports on the strategic Panama Canal is to revert to the country’s National Maritime Authority to ensure their uninterrupted, safe and efficient operation. The occupation covers movable equipment at the ports and does not mean a definitive loss of
TENSIONS: The march went ahead without clashes, but arrests were still possible as police investigate suspects behind Nazi salutes, racist slurs and homophobic insults Thousands of people on Saturday marched in southeastern France under heavy security in tribute to a far-right activist whose killing, blamed on the hard left, has put the country on edge. The crowd — many wearing black and some covering their lower faces with masks — marched through the city of Lyon carrying flowers and placards bearing pictures of Quentin Deranque and the words: “justice for Quentin” and “the extreme left kills.” The 23-year-old died from head injuries following clashes between radical left and far-right supporters on the sidelines of a demonstration against a politician from the left-wing France Unbowed
RSS