Peruvian shamans gathered once again for their traditional New Year’s ritual, a ceremony held annually to foresee major global and domestic developments in the year ahead. During this year’s gathering, held on a beach in southern Lima, the spiritual leaders made a series of dramatic predictions for 2026, including serious health concerns for former US President Donald Trump and the potential downfall of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The ritual, steeped in indigenous traditions, involved chants, symbolic gestures and spiritual interpretations meant to offer insight into the coming year.
Wearing brightly coloured ponchos and performing ceremonies along the shoreline, the shamans laid out large photographs of world leaders, over which they crossed swords, burned incense and scattered flowers. Juan de Dios Garcia, one of the prominent shamans at the gathering, declared that the United States should brace itself for troubling news, predicting that Donald Trump would suffer a serious illness. His remarks were delivered as part of a broader ritual meant to cleanse negative energies and reveal future events.
The group also made bold claims regarding political developments in Latin America. Garcia stated that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would be defeated and forced to flee the country, though he added that Maduro would not be captured. According to the shamans, Venezuela was headed for a major political shift, marking the end of Maduro’s rule after years of economic crisis and international pressure.
International leaders also featured prominently in the ceremony. Images of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were displayed as the shamans performed symbolic acts intended to represent global power struggles. Among their predictions was an optimistic outlook for the conflict in Ukraine, with Garcia stating that the war would come to an end and that peace would prevail, marked by what he described as the raising of a “flag of peace.”
On the domestic front, the shamans turned their attention to Peru’s political future. Garcia predicted that Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, would finally succeed in winning the presidency after multiple unsuccessful attempts. He said his vision came through spiritual insight gained from wachuma, a traditional ancestral plant used in Andean rituals for guidance and prophecy.
The annual ceremony, held every December, has become a cultural spectacle in Peru, blending indigenous beliefs with contemporary global politics. The shamans have previously made predictions about world events, including earlier forecasts about the end of the Ukraine conflict. While their prophecies are symbolic and not grounded in political analysis, they continue to draw attention for reflecting popular hopes, anxieties and expectations for the year ahead.
