The council that Perez is part of, the name in Spanish translates a couple different ways. The link calls them National Mayan Council of Indigenous Elders in Guatemala. But the original name is Consejo de Ancianos Mayas.
The subtleties of translation are important, because I see at least half a dozen variation on the name out there in English. Consejo is pretty straight forward, a council or gathering. Mayas is the other word. Notice it is NOT Mayans, but Mayas, no N. Attached to another word, as Ancianos Mayas, means Mayas is an adjective, not a noun.
Anciano has a number of possible meanings, from elder to elderly to old, to what I think is the intended and strongly implied meaning, ancient. So their name is not "Mayan Council of Indigenous Elders" but something closer to "Council of Maya Ancients." And there's no mention at all in the original title of National nor Guatemala. They are not claiming, in their title, to be a nationwide group at all. They arer also not necessarily claiming to be indigenous but rather some kinds of heirs. Rather their title suggests they claim to be a group of (not necessarily) Mayan people preserving what they see as ancient Mayan traditions.
While I'm reluctant to use this as a source, one of the few non-Nuage sources on them in English is this wiki page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MayanismAnd its subject, sure enough, is outsiders use of what they see as "true" ancient Mayan traditions, going back before Nuage to UFO people and people who wrote fantasies about ancient "lost" peoples. Think Edgar Rice Burroughs etc. Wiki mentions:
"A growing number of individuals of indigenous or
reportedly indigenous Maya
ancestry have emerged as advocates and supporters of Mayanism. These include César Mena Toto (also known as Hunbatz Men) and
the Quiché spiritual guide Alejandro Cirilo Pérez Oxlaj (also known as "Wandering Wolf"). These individuals identify themselves as traditional shamans, but do also interact with, and
refer to modern New Age phenomenal beliefs as in the lost continent of Atlantis, reverence for crystal skulls, and mediumship of extraterrestrial entities such as the Pleiadeans."
Also:
"On January 14, 2008, Álvaro Colom was inaugurated as the President of Guatemala. Colom is said to have been ordained as a "non-Mayan Mayan priest" by Alejandro Cirilio Pérez Oxlaj, who represented the Maya people at his inauguration. A BBC article reports that "he will regularly consult a group of spiritual leaders, known as the Mayan Elders National Council". (This group has also been identified as the National Mayan Council of Elders of Guatemala, the Consejo de Ancianos Mayas, Council of Elders of the Sacred Mayas, and other names.)"
Guatemala was split by civil war for 30 years, with a semi fascist govt that often allied with evangelicals vs an Indian population that sometimes had elements led by either Mayan traditionalists, leftist Catholics, or Marxists with materilaist and atheistic ideas. A Nuage president, influenced by Nuage ideas about Mayans, has some understandable appeal as a third way that's less controversial.
I think it quite likely, in fact almost certain, that Perez is Mayan, or least has Mayan ancestry. It'd be kind of hard not to be in Guatemala, except for the wealthiest whites. But as for elder, well, he's certainly elderly, but some of his followers if not all are certainly Nuage.
Looking for that council on Spanish language sites and you get nothing but more Nuage sites. If this were actual NDN elders concerned with NDN issues, you'd expect to see those issues mentioned quite a bit, not talk about harmonics.
That, plus all of Perez's very Nuage and pre-Nuage but definitely nontraditional ideas.
