Mexican woman who lived through the revolution dies at 127

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Mexican woman who lived through the revolution dies at 127

Becerra used to tell stories about her time as an 'adelita' in the 1910 revolution

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 22 March, 2015, 1:02am
UPDATED : Sunday, 22 March, 2015, 1:18am

Reuters in Mexico City

Leandra Becerra before her death.Photo: SCMP Pictures

The oldest woman in the world, who fought in the 1910 Mexican Revolution, has died after reaching the age of 127.

Leandra Becerra died on Thursday morning at her home in Zapopan in the western state of Jalisco, Mexico's National System for Integral Family Development, or DIF, said.

Becerra couldn't be registered in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-living woman because she lost all her official documentation.

Her grandson, 70-year-old Samuel Alvear, said she simply stopped breathing, having developed problems with her lungs a few months ago.

Known as the last of the revolutionary-era 'adelitas' - women who followed their men into battle and who contributed to the war effort - Becerra was born on August 31, 1887 in northeastern Tamaulipas state.

Alvear said she used to regale him with stories about the Mexican Revolution, which began in 1910, when she would make tortillas for the soldiers.

"She met Pancho Villa," he said she had told him, referring to the revolutionary general.

Her family said Becerra, who liked eating chocolates and cookies, had said jokingly that the secret of her longevity was not having a husband, eating well and getting plenty of sleep.

Guadalupe Diaz, head of the metropolitan centre for the elderly in Zapopan, said Becerra, who never married, had five children, who had all died, adding that by 2011, she had 161 descendents. Becerra's relatives held a wake for her at her home in the town's Miramar district, and planned to have her cremated.

Additional reporting from Xinhua