A Brazilian rest home for the elderly believes one resident may be the world's oldest person: a former agricultural laborer born in a community of runaway slaves 126 years ago, at a time when Brazil still had an emperor.
A birth certificate and identity documents issued by a judge in 2001 show that Jose Aguinelo dos Santos, a resident of the Vila Vicentina shelter for the elderly in Bauru, Brazil, was born on July 7, 1888, less than two months after the end of slavery in the country, said Cesar Siqueira, the rest home's vice president.
While dos Santos has none of the original documents proving his age, interest in his life has increased since the death on June 8 of Alexander Imich in New York, Siqueira said.