At 121 years old, Celino Villaneuva Jaramillo is the world’s oldest man. Probably.
Born in 1896, Chilean Celino has lived through two world wars and has four years on Nabi Tajima, the 117-year-old Japanese woman who is officially listed as the oldest person by the Guinness Book of Records.
For the last 22 years, he has been living with Marta Ramírez, who took him in when his house burned to the ground in a fire that also destroyed his birth certificate.
It is the loss of his documents that has prevented Celino from being granted worldwide recognition for his age.
Ms Ramírez, now 99, admitted she never expected the frail nonagenarian, who is now blind, deaf and cannot walk without help, to still be living under her roof two decades later.
Celino Villaneuva Jaramillo, 121, pictured here blowing out the candles on his 120th birthday cake, could be the world’s oldest person
Born in 1896, Chilean Celino has lived through two world wars and has four years on Nabi Tajima, the 117-year-old Japanese woman who is officially listed as the oldest person
‘He was 99, I didn’t think he’d be around that much longer,’ she told the Guardian.
Celino, who never married or had any children, lost his birth certificate but has an official Chilean identity card – personally delivered by the country’s justice minister in 2016 – that confirms his date of birth.
Even the president firmly believes Celino is as old as he says he is.
Jacqueline Salinas, of Chile’s national office of statistics, said: ‘Checking our records, Celino Villanueva Jaramillo was effectively born on 25 July 1896 – and he’s still alive.’
Farm labourer Celino was born in Río Bueno in the year X-rays were discovered, the first modern Olympics were held in Athens and Queen Victoria became the UK’s longest-serving monarch.
Mystery surrounds much of Celino’s life but it is known he spent the final 30 years of his working life in the employment of Ambrosio Toledo, who, on the veteran’s 80th birthday, delivered the news he was being replaced by a younger, fitter field hand and he would need to leave the house he was living in.
Celino left with a small pension and moved into Mehuín, a small town on the Pacific coast.
There, he rented the house that would later burn down. The modest shack contained a dirt floor with a fireplace in the middle, which he would use to cook fish.
For the last 22 years, Celino has been living with Marta Ramírez, who took him in when his house burned to the ground
Celino is now almost 90 per cent blind due to operable cataracts, 85 per cent deaf and is toothless
Local children describe him as ‘elf-like’ due to his small size and the fact he used to walk around with a sack over his shoulder.
He spent this time growing vegetables and selling them to shopkeepers before tragedy struck and fire made him homeless.
Somehow, the old man survived the flames, only suffering minor burns and smoke inhalation.
In 2011, Celino celebrated his 115th birthday and was treated to a personal appearance by Chile’s billionaire president Sebastián Piñera, who showered him with gifts, including a wood-burning stove, earphones and crutches.
Piñera also handed him a certificate recognising his age and said he was an example of the government’s commitment to the elderly.
Though he still does not have access to private healthcare and has to rely on the inferior public version.
Celino is now almost 90 per cent blind due to operable cataracts, 85 per cent deaf and does not have a tooth left in his head.
He cannot walk unaided but still regales visitors with tales of his youth, including the fact his aunt broke his arm when he was a baby.
Last year friends filmed him blowing out the candles on his 120th birthday cake. In a heartwarming video posted to Facebook by Carlito Altamirano, one of his carers is seen handing him a birthday card.