( CNN ) -- The year was 1890 . Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky premiered his Sleeping Beauty ballet in St. Petersburg . Vincent van Gogh ended his life , apparently by shooting himself . And Idaho and Wyoming became the 43rd and 44th states of the United States . 1890 is also the year Carmelo Flores Laura was born , or at least , that 's what his family and the Bolivian government claim . The Bolivian man , who lives in the town of Frasquia , in the arid highlands of Bolivia , showed CNN government documents that seem to confirm he 's 123 years old . The documents include a birth certificate showing his birth date as July 16 , 1890 . There 's also a national identity card with the same birth date . Several media outlets published stories about Flores calling him the oldest man alive . But there appear to be several problems with this claim . For starters , neither the birth certificate nor the national identity card is original . `` We were skeptical from the beginning , '' said Stephen Coles , a professor of gerontology at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California in Los Angeles . He 's also the director of the Gerontology Research Group , an independent organization that tracks , monitors and verifies claims of longevity . `` He 's not the real thing . Carmelo is not 123 years old despite the documents his family has shown . He was not born in the year 1890 . '' Coles said the first red flag was the fact that Flores is a man . The gerontologist said more than 90 % of cases of what his organization categorizes as supercentenarians are women . Jean Louise Calment from France lived to the age of 122 . Her case is the longest human lifespan that has been verified with several documents . According to Coles , there are 57 documented and verified cases of people over the age of 110 around the world . Fifty-five are women and two are men . Four other cases are still pending final verification . The Gerontology Research Group has found a document that purportedly shows Flores is actually 107 years old , and not 123 . The document is a baptismal certificate . Back in 1890 , the Bolivian government did n't record live births or any other demographic data , so it was up to the Catholic Church to register births , deaths and marriages . In any case , the fact that Carmelo Flores Laura has lived for more than a century in the arid highlands of Bolivia at an altitude of more than 12,000 feet is striking . Not only does he walk on his own , but his voice is still commanding . His son Cecilio Flores , who 's 65 years old , has to speak loudly in his ear to communicate with him , but his memory seems to be in perfect shape . He does n't speak Spanish , but his native Aymara , an indigenous language in Bolivia . `` I was born here in the highlands , '' Flores told CNN in Aymara , with his son translating into Spanish . `` I was not a mischievous child . I was rather calm . I arrived as a young man in Frasquia and worked as herder and farmer . I was very happy with my wife . We never fought . I never cheated on her and we were both very happy . '' Flores ' wife lived to be over 100 years old . According to family tradition , the secret to a long life is drinking the water that flows down the Illampu Glacier , located not far from Frasquia . Their diet includes no packaged or processed foods , but locally grown plants like barley and quinoa . They hunt a local fox that lives in the Bolivian mountains known regionally as `` zorrino . '' 80 year old becomes oldest to climb Mount Everest . Before you get any ideas , the Gerontology Research Group has found that no particular diet , geographical location or kind of water makes people live longer . Coles said it 's the genes . `` People who have extreme old age have virtually nothing in common . They do n't share the same religion , nutrition or exercise routine . They only have one detail in common : they have relatives who have lived a long time and children ( who ) also tend to live a long time , '' Coles said . Cecilio Flores said his supercentenarian father had five children , 16 grandchildren and 39 great-grandchildren . `` I constantly congratulate my father , '' he said . `` He took care of me when I was little so I 'm now taking care of him . Now it 's my turn to make sure he 's taken care of . '' Cecilio is the only child of Flores still alive . No one in the Flores family doubts that the patriarch is 123 years old . There seems to be no doubt either when it comes to officials . In fact , the government of Bolivia plans to honor Flores by declaring him `` a living heritage '' of the Bolivian people .
Carmelo Flores Laura has two documents saying he is 123 years old . Comment: The Gerontology Research Group has found evidence he is only 107 . Either way , the government of Bolivia is declaring him `` a living heritage '' of the Bolivian people .