BIOGRAPHY

Aritama was born in Gaira, Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia on 24 June 1907, the youngest daughter of the six children of Domingo Aritama and Teodora Alandete, who were both single at the time. She loved to dance during her youth. She never attended school. She learned to read and write from the woman who taught her at her home. She worked in community service, cooking arepas. She never drank alcohol.

Four of her children were alive in 2020: Tranquilina, Olga, Silfredo, and Rosario. Her husband died at the age of 80. For some time, she worked with her niece, Dominga Hincapie Aritama, in the restaurant “Donde Minga” in El Rodadero.

All of her life she lived in Gaira, Magdalena, Colombia. In Gaira, she met her husband, Jose Rosario Fuentes. She had six children with her husband, with whom she spent 54 years married. Her husband died at the age of 80. For some time, she worked with her niece, Dominga Hincapie Aritama, in the restaurant “Donde Minga” in El Rodadero.

Four of her children were alive in 2020: Tranquilina, Olga, Silfredo, and Rosario.

Aritama was Catholic and she claimed the secret of her long life was her belief in God, and the food (fish, banana, yucca…). She was still able to walk unassisted at the age of 110. On her 111th birthday in 2018, she had 40 grandchildren, 90 great-grandchildren, and 42 great-great-grandchildren.

Aritama died in Gaira, Magdalena, Colombia on 21 May 2021 at the age of 113 years, 331 days.

RECOGNITION

Aritama had been the oldest validated living person in Colombia since the death of Carmen Emilia Jaramillo Chavarria on 15 July 2020.

Her age was verified by Stefan Maglov, Santiago García Medina and Fabrizio Villatoro, and validated by the GRG on 17 May 2021.

ATTRIBUTION

GALLERY