Introduction

As supercentenarian research has advanced over the past few years, an increasing number of areas have been found to have produced supercentenarians. One such area that was almost completely under-explored in the past is Central- and South America. When María Capovilla (1889-2006) of Ecuador was validated as the World’s Oldest Living Person after the death of Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper (1890-2005) it likely came as a surprise to some since, other than the US and Canada, the majority of America had not been known to produce people that lived exceptionally long.

It’s been about 18.5 years since the validation of Capovilla and now we have a better understanding concerning Latin America. We still see several likely exaggerated claims from certain areas but with a team of researchers focusing on this region in particular we have now identified and validated almost 150 Latin American supercentenarians that satisfy the high standards for age validation. We have also seen Capovilla’s age record for Latin America being surpassed by Francisca Celsa dos Santos (1904-2021). Concerning male supercentenarians we have observed that this region has produced some of the longest lived men of all time, with several former World’s Oldest Living Man titleholders having lived in this area. One such person is the male Latin American longevity recordholder, Juan Vicente Pérez Mora (1909-2024).

Juan Vicente Pérez Mora

Source: El diario

Juan Vicente Pérez Mora was born in El Cobre, Táchira, Venezuela on 27 May 1909 as the youngest of nine sons to Eutiquio del Rosario Pérez and Edelmira Mora. The family moved to Los Paujiles in 1913 where the family members started working in agriculture. He met his future wife, Ediofina del Rosario Garcia Carrero (b. 1916) in 1934. The pair would marry in 1938 and had 11 children. Pérez Mora and his growing family moved to his brother Miguel’s farm in Caricuena around 1940 and would remain here until after all his children had been born. Juan Vicente Pérez Mora mainly worked worked with sugar canes and coffee but would be part of the construction of the road from Queniquea to San José de Bolivar in the 1950s and was also in charge of resolving land disputes.

In 1962 he sold the farm in Caricuana and bought a house in San José de Bolivar. He was widowed in 1997 at age 87. Pérez Mora started using a wheelchair at age 98 and he sold of all his remaining land to remodel the main house when he was 104 years old. The first media report on Juan Vicente Pérez Mora came in 2020 when he turned 111 and he would garner notoriety as he climbed in the rankings of the Oldest Living Man. Pérez Mora became the oldest validated living man in 2022 and would hold this title for over two years, dying at age 114 years, 311 days on 2 April 2024.

The family of Pérez Mora proved to be highly cooperative in the validation of his age and there existed a multitude of available information concerning his life, which allowed for his age to be validated with a high degree of certainty.

Supporting documentation

1. Birth registration

The original birth registration of Juan Vicente Pérez Mora was dated to 29 May 1909 and notes that Juan Vicente, born on 27 May 1909 was registered in José Maria Vargas, Táchira, Venezula. His parents were Eutiquio Pérez (34) and Edelmira Mora (28). Neither of the parents were able to read.

In this document it can therefore be deduced that a child born to parents with matching names. The age of his mother was shown to be inaccurate by her baptismal record. José Maria Vargas is the county in which Juan Vicente was born and El Cobre is located within this county.

 

 

2. Baptismal Record

On the same day as Juan Vicente Pérez Mora’s birth was registered, he was also baptized. On 29 May 1909, in the parish church of San Bartolomé de Vargas, Juan Vicente, son of Eutiquio Pérez and Edelmira Mora, born on 27 May 1909, was baptized.

 

 

3. Marriage Record

On 28 January 1938, Juan Vicente Pérez Mora, a farmer aged 28, son of Eutiquio Pérez and Edelmira Mora, and a native and resident of Vargas, Venezuela married Ediofina del Rosario, aged 21. The place of marriage was Queniquea, Táchira, Venezuela, which was also the birthplace of the bride.

A photograph from the marriage also exists, which shows Juan Vicente Pérez Mora (28) and his wife Ediofina (21). At a first glance, the man in the photo might appear older than 28 years old, but this could be a result of several factors, such as lighting, sun exposure or how he dressed. We have to remember that Pérez Mora worked as a farmer, which was a taxing endeavour.

 

 

4. 1963 ID Card

Juan Vicente Perez Mora obtained his first identity card in 1963. This card does not give a date of birth, but does include a photograph of him and the man in this photo bears a striking resemblance to the man in the wedding photo. The ID number is given as 1900871.

5. 1968 ID Card

Five years later, a new ID card was issued and by looking at the photograph it was apparent that it was the same man in both photos. This ID card does not give any date of birth either, but does confirm the ID number, 1900871.

6. 1987 ID Card

There is then a gap between 1968 and 1987 concerning documentation, but the ID card from 1987 shows that it is the same man as in 1968. He has, naturally, aged in the 18 years since the last ID. The ID card gives his full name as Juan Vicente Perez Mora, his date of birth as 27 May 1909 and also the ID number as 1.900.871. It also makes note of him not knowing how to sign a signature. A fingerprint is provided, but it is mostly faded.

7. 2011 ID Card

The next ID card is then dated to 2011, and shows a very aged and mostly bald man. The card gives his full name as Juan Vicente Perez Mora, his birthdate as 27 May 1909, and his ID number as 1.900.871. A clear fingerprint is provided on this ID card.

8. 2022 ID Card

Oldest man in world dies aged 114 - What's The Jam

At age 113, Juan Vicente Pérez Mora had a new ID card issued. His date of birth was once again given as 27 May (19)09 and the ID number as 1.900.871. A fingerprint was once again taken. Interestingly, the card would have expired when he was 123 years old.

 

 

 

 

Family tree reconstruction

Given that Juan Vicente Pérez Mora was the youngest of his brothers there is less likelihood for age exaggeration. But a family tree still needs to be reconstructed to identify potential issues.

Parents

José Eutiquio del Rosario Pérez (16.4.1869 – 17 Mar 1943)
Edelmira del Carmen Mora Sánchez (27.11.1869 – 6 Sep 1949)

Married 30 September 1891 in El Cobre

Siblings

  1. Rufino Abigail Pérez Mora (x.7.1892)
  2. Tobias de Jesus Pérez Mora (18.9.1893 – c. 1961)
  3. Pedro Maria Pérez Mora (29.4.1895 – c. 1962) m. 1926
  4. José Abrahan Pérez Mora (27.7.1896 – c. 1959) m. 1930
  5. Rafael Arcangel Pérez Mora (21.10.1897)
  6. Salomon Pérez Mora (12.5.1901 – 22.7.1903)
  7. Miguel Arcangel Pérez Mora (25.10.1904) m. 1930
  8. Salomon de Jesus Pérez Mora (22.4.1906 – c. 1984) m. 1926
  9. Juan Vicente Pérez Mora (27.5.1909 – 2.4.2024)
  10. Maria Betsabe Pére Mora (2.6.1912 – c. 1985) m. 1928

Spouse

Ediofina del Rosario Garcia Carrera (5.5.1916 – 31.3.1997)

Married 28 January 1938 in Queniquea.

Children (deceased)

  1. José Juan (died at age 74)
  2. José Guillermo (died at age 57)
  3. Juan Bautista (died at age 11)
  4. Aliz Teresa (died at 22 months)
  5.  X
  6. X
  7. X
  8. Carmen Edilia (died at age 56)
  9. X
  10. X
  11. X

Incostencies and issues

The one issue that exists with Juan Vicente Pérez Mora’s case is that there are no birth registrations available for his children. However, the possibility of identity theft was ruled out by interviewing Pérez Mora himself about the biographical details of his life. His responses proved to perfectly match what the available documentation said. Since he was the youngest son, an older sibling taking his identity would only mean that he was even older than claimed, and an exhaustive search was carried out by a research time to rule out Juan Vicente Pérez Mora having been born later than 1909. Since a family tree has been (mostly) reconstructed, ths also means that there is a lower likelihood of a son or other relative stealing his identity. Further, there is photographical evidence of his identity going back as early as 1938 and a strong similiarity in all photos taken of him thereafter, meaning that a potential identity theft would have to have been done before 1938. Such an identity theft would have been pointless since Pérez Mora lived a humble life without any wealth or resources and was closely connected to his other family members. This would mean that an identity theft in this situation would have to have been part of a larger plot that existed for entirely unknown reasons, which seems highly unlikely.

While Juan Vicente Pérez Mora’s documentation is not as extensive as that of certain Nordic supercentenarian cases for example, there exists documentation from throughout his life. While there are gaps in the ID card history, there are death records of some of his relative that mention him available that help fill in these gaps. His earliest document was from when he was two days old, meaning that there is very little room for error concerning his date of birth. All documents that record an age or date of birth are consistent with a birth on 27 May 1909, meaning that the documentation is strong.

There was one minor issue in Juan Vicente Pérez Mora’s birth registration, but that concerned his mother, Edelmira Mora, who had deflated her age by ten years. Given that his parents married in 1891 his mother’s age of 28 in 1909 would have meant that she married at age 10. Luckily, the baptismal record of Edelmira Mora was available and it showed that she was actually born in 1869 and therefore 39 years old when Juan Vicente Pérez Mora was born.

Conclusion

There exists strong evidence that Juan Vicente Pérez Mora was born on 27 May 1909, supported by two documents dated two days after his birth. There exists documentation from throughout his life supporting his age and identity. Identity theft is ruled out by the presence of photographical evidence and a very detailed biography about his life. His family tree has some gaps regarding the births of his children, but this has no impact concerning the age and identity of Juan Vicente Pérez Mora. Based on the gathered documentation, Juan Vicente Pérez Mora was born on 27 May 1909 and died on 2 April 2024, aged 114 years, 311 days.