'World's oldest person' 128th birthday (Reuters) Updated: 2006-05-04 13:45
Friends and relatives of Cruz Hernandez's gathered on Wednesday to celebrate
her 128th birthday, a milestone that might make her the world's oldest person.
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| Cruz
Hernandez [El Mundo] |
| Hernandez, who relatives say spends
most of her time dozing and no longer speaks, was surrounded by some 200 people
at her party, some bearing a cake and others dressed as Salvadoran mythological
heroes.
According to national records, Hernandez was born on May 3, 1878, in one of
the country's central provinces, where she gave birth to 13 children. She now
has 60 grandchildren, 80 great-grandchildren and 25 great-great grandchildren.
National birth registry officials sent Hernandez's documents to the Guinness
World Records organization last year but have yet to hear whether the case was
accepted.
Guinness claims Ecuadorean Maria Esther de Capovilla is the world's oldest
living woman at age 116.
According to the organization, the longest any woman has ever lived is 122
years. The oldest man was 120 when he died in 1986.
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