Elis Pacheco and Mrs. María Elena de Pacheco, son and widow of the famous Dominican musician Johnny Pacheco, who died on February 15, recounted the last moments of the salsa creator while he died with them and other relatives in a hospital in New Sweater.
“I was watching the football playoff match and he couldn’t breathe well,” said the son.
“I had a lot of fluid in my throat,” he added.
He said he was very proud of his father, who was a legend. “He always put things in perspective, humble and reserved with his private life and lived with his achievements.”
He added that, unfortunately, after his death, some realized all his achievements as a musician.
“I am proud to be recognized,” Elis added.
For her part, the widow said that her last moments with her husband were very peaceful thanks to God.
“I had the joy of being with him, talking to him, kissing and hugging him, asking him not to leave my side,” he said.
“I also asked him to guide me and tell me what he wants, but I think everything was very much alive,” he said.
Pacheco’s friend for decades and promoter in salsa media, the Dominican Eugenio Pérez, remembered that the teacher asked him in life that when he died they would bury him like potatoes, with his shoes on.
“He also told me that in his epitaph he wanted us to write: here is Johnny Pacheco, against his will,” Pérez added.
The son and the widow talked about Pacheco’s last moments with Dominican Univisión Primer Impacto reporter Daneida Polanco during a vigil in memory of the deceased, Sunday at Plaza Las Américas in Upper Manhattan and Tuesday, while the remains of the deceased at Frank Campbell Funeral Home & Crematory Services in downtown Manhattan.