For almost two years, since May 2022, Venezuelan Juan Vicente Pérez Mora held the Guinness record as the oldest man in the world. He died this Tuesday in the place where he lived his entire life, in the state of Táchira (border with Colombia), a couple of months before his 115th birthday. An age that the Catalan Maria Branyas, the oldest person in the world, reached in January.
Pérez Mora has always lived in a mountainous area of Táchira, where he worked in the fields for more than 50 years. There he also married and had 11 children with Ediofina García, who died in 1997 after 60 years of marriage. He lived his last five years among recognitions and tributes, which included Guinness certification, local ceremonies and distinctions from the Government.
When Guinness congratulated him on one of his last birthdays, it indicated that he had 18 grandchildren, 41 great-grandchildren and 12 great-great-grandchildren."
The death of the supercentennial - a word to designate the elderly who reach this age - was reported on X (formerly Twitter) by the governor of Táchira, Freddy Bernal.
His last birthdays, as relatives explained to EFE, were celebrated with Catholic liturgies and Creole meals, all within his residence, located in an alpine area of the Andean region, where he lived with relatives and under the care of doctors.
'Uncle Juan', as he was popularly known, was born on May 27, 1909 and, since 2020, when EFE released his story - as his own family certifies -, he has been waiting for Guinness, which was released on May 17. May 2022.
