It marked a third Paralympic title for the 43-year-old after an under 52kg title in Beijing and under 60kg honours in London.

She lifted a record 130kg on her third attempt to edge out Nigerian silver medallist Esther Oyema by three kilograms. 

Cuijuan Xiao of China clinched bronze with 115kg.

"I knew that it would be very hard to beat her, but I would not risk going for an 'all or nothing,'" said Perez, who also won silver medals at both the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Games.

"You have to use your best strategy. 

"This win was in my blood and I've never doubted it."

Perez, who has 12 siblings, dedicated her win to her daughter, Melissa.

"She was there in the stands cheering me on with my niece," she said.

"My daughter is my talisman, she gives me strength and shows me that I can do everything I want to."

Nigeria did continue their good record with another gold medal courtesy of Paul Kehinde in the under 65kg category.

His success was virtually guaranteed as soon as he lifted 205kg - but that proved to be just the start of a superb performance.

The Nigerian then produced a world record 218kg before narrowly missing out at 224kg.

Hu Peng of China took silver with a best of 200kg, while Egypt's Shaaban Ibrahim managed bronze on 193kg.

Lidiia Soloviova had earlier taken the first gold medal of the day in the women's under 50kg with a Paralympic record effort of 107kg.

Egypt won another medal as Rehab Ahmed recorded a best of 104kg.

Thi Linh Phuong Dang of Vietnam managed 102kg for bronze.