Pinales Figuereo was born in Bajos de Haina, a town in the San Cristóbal province. He had eight siblings, outliving all of them. His brother Evaristo died between 2012 and 2017. He married and fathered 10 children.

Pinales Figuereo worked at a sugar mill until the early 1950s when he nearly lost his right thumb in an accident. He seldom drank alcohol but smoked for many decades until he suffered a lung disease in 1992. He did not enjoy dancing.

At the time of his 111th birthday, Pinales Figuereo had 33 grandchildren, 59 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren. All 10 of his children were still living; he lived with his daughter Ramona. His relatives included Melanio Paredes, former Minister of Education, and Rolando Guante, a sports columnist for El Nacional.

In May 2017, Pinales Figuereo may have become the oldest man in the Dominican Republic, following the death of Efraín Núñez Núñez. In January 2019, he became a candidate for the World’s Oldest Man title, but Gustav Gerneth of Germany, whose age is also not validated, claimed to be older. He died in October 2019, leaving Pinales Figuereo as the oldest known candidate with age-supporting documentation.

Pinales Figuereo died in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, on 24 September 2020 at the age of 114 years, 177 days. If his age were validated, Puerto Rico’s Emilio Flores Márquez would succeed him as the oldest man in the world.