Venezuelan Juan Vicente Perez Mora, certified in 2022 by Guinness World Records as the oldest man in the world, died on Tuesday at the age of 114, officials and relatives said.
“Juan Vicente Perez Mora has transcended into eternity at 114 years of age,” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on social media platform X.
Perez was officially confirmed as the oldest man alive on February 4, 2022, when he was 112 years and 253 days old, according to Guinness. A father of 11, as of 2022 he had 41 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, and 12 great-great-grandchildren.
The farmer known as Tio Vicente was born in the town of El Cobre, in the Andean state of Tachira on May 27, 1909, and was the ninth of 10 children.
“At the age of five years old, he started working with his dad and brothers in agriculture and assisted with sugar cane and coffee harvesting,” a Guinness statement from 2022 said.
Perez went on to become a sheriff and was responsible for resolving land and family disputes, while still working in agriculture.
Earlier, Maria Branyas Morera celebrated her 117th birthday and with this, she added her name to the Guinness World Records (GWR) list. Born in 1907, she is now the world’s oldest living person who has survived World War I, World War II, the Spanish Flu pandemic, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sharing the birthday wish for Maria Branyas Morera on Instagram, Guinness World Records wrote, “Happy birthday to Maria Branyas Morera who celebrates her 117th birthday today. She was verified as the world’s oldest person back in January 2023.
Maria was born on 4 March 1907 in San Francisco, USA, but returned to Spain with her family when she was eight to settle in Catalonia. She’s lived in the region ever since and has resided in the same nursing home for the past 23 years.”
In the comments section of the post, Guinness World Records stated that she became the oldest person on Earth in January 2023, following the death of 118-year-old Lucile Randon (France).