Peruvian shamans’ first 2026 prophecy comes true with Maduro's fall

Don’t bet against Peruvian shamans, it seems.

On 29 December 2025, a group of shamans gathered by the sea in the Miraflores district of Peru’s capital Lima for their annual ritual: forecasting what the coming year has in store for the world when it comes to global leaders, ongoing conflicts, and the course of international relations.

They meet 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.

And wouldn’t you know it, despite a mixed record with their annual predictions, one of their 2026 prophecies has already come true, as they foretold that Donald Trump would oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

“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, a full five days before Maduro was captured in a military operation that Donald Trump said would set the US up to "run" the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves.

The prediction was only partially accurate, however. While the group foresaw the fall of the 63-year-old Venezuelan leader, they believed he would flee and not be captured.

"We see Nicolas Maduro defeated," proclaimed another shaman, Juan de Dios Garcia. "Nicolas Maduro will flee Venezuela. He will not be captured."

Another one of the group’s predictions for this year also concerns Trump: "The United States should prepare itself because Donald Trump will fall seriously ill," Juan de Dios Garcia proclaimed.

Even if the shamans called for peace and healing worldwide, the 2026 outlook doesn’t look too rosy: they have predicted natural disasters, such as earthquakes, and while they foresee the end of Russia’s war in Ukraine, they previously made the prediction that the conflict would end in 2023.

Last year, they also warned a "nuclear war" would break out between Israel and Gaza, where a ceasefire is currently in place.

However, in December 2023, the group correctly predicted that former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, who had been imprisoned for human rights abuses, would die within twelve months. Fujimori died from cancer in September 2024 at the age of 86.