Edward Nino Hernandez is in many ways a typical 24-year-old Colombian man. He loves to dance reggaeton, dreams of owning a car “preferably a Mercedes” and wants to see the world.
What sets Mr. Nino (pronounced NEE—nyoh) apart is his size. He is slightly taller than a piece of carry-on luggage and weighs just 10 kg.
Mr. Nino has just been officially certified as the world's shortest living man by the Guinness World Records, measuring 70 cm.
“He hasn't grown since he was two years old,” his mother, Noemi Hernandez, said of the oldest of her five living children.
The previous titleholder was He Pingping of China, who was four cm taller and died March 13. The Guinness people discovered Mr. Nino afterward.
They say Mr. Nino's reign is not likely to last long, however. Khagendra Thapa Magar of Nepal is expected to take over after he turns 18 on October 14. He measures about 56 cm and is currently recognised by Guinness as the shortest living teen. Doctors never could explain why Mr. Nino is so small, his parents say.
“I feel happy because I'm unique,” Mr. Nino said in an interview on Friday with The Associated Press.
He does, however, have his problems — cataracts in both of his eyes that blur his vision and, says his mother, require urgent surgery that the family cannot afford.
Mr. Nino has earned some cash dancing at department stores and is now acting in a film in which he plays — What else? This is Colombia — a pint-sized drug thug.
