CUBA: Country's oldest man Benito Martinez Abrogan, dies at 126 years old

Record ID: 370175

  • Title: CUBA: Country's oldest man Benito Martinez Abrogan, dies at 126 years old
  • Date: 14th October 2006
  • Summary: (L!1) HAVANA , CUBA (FILE - FEBRUARY 10, 2005) (REUTERS) OLDEST CUBAN MAN BENITO MARTINEZ ENTERING ROOM MARTINEZ' IDENTIFICATION CARD STATING HIS DATE OF BIRTH WAS JUNE 19, 1880 MARTINEZ SITTING DOWN GROUP OF OLD PEOPLE WHO WERE PART OF CUBA'S "ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY CLUB" TO PROMOTE HEALTHY LIFESTYLES
  • Embargoed: 29th October 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cuba
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAW2CYNYR6TQV4OB4PXDAM0L9F
  • Story Text: Cuba's oldest man who was reportedly 126-years-old, Benito Martinez Abrogan, died on Wednesday (October 11, 2006).
    Benito Martinez Abrogan was said to be 126 before he passed away on Wednesday (October 11), his Cuban national identification card showing his date of birth was June 19, 1880.
    But Martinez - who was born in Haiti before emigrating to Cuba - he had no birth certificate, and as such was not regarded as the world's oldest. Guinness World Records says a 116-year-old American, Elizabeth Bolden of Tennessee, is the oldest known person alive.
    As a centenarian, Martinez had been the star attraction of Cuba's 120-Club, a group formed by President Fidel Castro's personal physician Eugenio Selman to promote healthy lives for Cuba's elderly.
    The former sugar cane plantation worker had a weak heart and used a cane to walk, but did not wear glasses and his hearing was good.
    He attributed his longevity to a healthy diet of fresh vegetables, some meat and only occasional consumption of alcohol.
    "I don't smoke, I don't drink, I eat where there is rice and when there is no rice I eat sweet potato," oldest Cuban man Benito Martinez said back in 2005.
    Cuba proudly boasts it has raised life expectancy to 77 years, equal to that of rich industrialized nations and a major feat for a developing country.
    A recent study said more than 2,500 of Cuba 's 11.2 million inhabitants are over the age of 100, most of them women. The study attributed the country's high number of centenarians to going easy on alcohol but indulging in sex, cigars and coffee.
    However the health of the island's leader - Fidel Castro - is what is still concerning many Cubans.
    Castro has not appeared in public since undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in late July for an undisclosed illness that forced him to hand over power temporarily to his brother Raul.
    But the 80-year-old communist leader is reportedly putting on weight again.
    His illness has been treated as a national secret, and he was treated by a small team of Cuban medical specialists.
    The tiny Communist nation has a free national health care system, that boasts a family doctor on every corner. Cuba also regularly sends its doctors abroad to aid disaster relief efforts and poverty rejection schemes worldwide. Some 20,000 Cuban doctors and 10,000 other medical personnel are currently working overseas.
    Martinez passed away in a hospital in central Cuban city of Ciego de Avila after several days in intensive care.
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