Venezuelan farmer Juan Vicente Perez Mora has passed away two months before his 115th birthday
FILE PHOTO: 112-year-old Venezuelan farmer Juan Vicente Pérez gestures at his home in San Jose de Bolivar, Tachira state, Venezuela, on January 24, 2022. © Jhonny PARRA / AFP
The world’s oldest man, Juan Vicente Perez Mora, died at the age of 114 on Tuesday in Venezuela, according to local officials.
The retired farmer became the oldest living male in 2020, and was officially recognized as such by Guinness World Records in 2022, when he was 112.
Perez died two just months before his 115th birthday in Venezuelan state of Tachira, according to Governor Freddy Bernal.
“Our dear Juan Vicente Perez Mora, today with deep sadness and pain we say goodbye to you, to that archetype of a man from Tachira, humble, hard-working, peaceful, enthusiastic about family and tradition,” Bernal wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro commented on his passing, saying: “Juan Vicente Perez Mora has transcended into eternity at 114 years old.”
Perez was born in the town of El Cobre, in the Andean state of Tachira on May 27, 1909 and was the ninth of ten children. The farmer, known as Tio Vicente, began working at age five with his father and brothers, helping with the sugar cane and coffee harvest, according to a 2022 statement by the Guinness World Records.
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While still working in agriculture, Perez went on to become a sheriff in Caricuena in 1948 and was responsible for resolving land and family disputes for ten years, Guinness said.
A father of 11 children, as of 2022 he had 42 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and 12 great-great-grandchildren.
His secret to a long life, according to Guinness World Records, was to “work hard, rest on holidays, go to bed early, drink a glass of aguardiente every day, love God, and always carry him in your heart.”
Currently the world’s oldest living person is Maria Branyas Morera, who celebrated her 117th birthday in Catalonia, Spain, last month.
The oldest person ever was French woman Jeanne Calment, who lived to the age of 122 and died in 1997, according to Guinness.
