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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Camacho brain-dead but still on life support

By: Danica Coto

Posted: 11/23/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Hector (Macho) Camacho (CP)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Famed Puerto Rican boxer Hector (Macho) Camacho is clinically brain dead, doctors said Thursday, but family members disagreed on whether to take him off life support and two of the fighter's aunts said later that relatives had agreed to wait two more days.

Dr. Ernesto Torres said doctors had no more medical tests to perform on Camacho, who was shot in the face Tuesday night.

"We have done everything we could," said Torres, who is director of the Centro Medico trauma centre in San Juan. "We have to tell the people of Puerto Rico and the entire world that Macho Camacho has died, he is brain dead."

He said at a news conference Thursday morning that Camacho's father indicated he wanted the boxer taken off life support and his organs donated, but other relatives opposed the idea.

"This is a very difficult moment," Torres said.

One of the fighter's aunts, Aida Camacho, said Thursday evening that two of Camacho's sisters had asked to have two more days to spend with him, and other family members had agreed even though they felt it was time to give in.

"I'm a person of a lot of faith, and I believe in miracles, but science has spoken," she said.

Another aunt, Blanca Camacho, also said the family had agreed to the wishes of the two sisters from New York to hold off on ending life support. But, she added, "There's nothing left here. He's already dead."

Most of Camacho's relatives left the hospital by Thursday night without commenting.

About a dozen people stood vigil outside. One, Orvil Miller, a singer and actor, expressed sadness about Camacho's fate and recalled his admiration for the fighter's flamboyance.

"He had the combination of the skills of a boxer along with a great sense for entertainment," Miller said.

Steve Tannenbaum, a friend and a former boxing agent for Camacho, said in a phone interview that he idolized Camacho as a boxer.

"He is one of the greatest small fighters that I have ever seen," he said. "Hector Camacho had a legendary status."

The 50-year-old Camacho was shot as he and a friend sat in a car parked outside a bar Tuesday night. Police spokesman Alex Diaz said officers found nine small bags of cocaine in the friend's pocket, and a 10th bag open inside the car. Camacho's friend was killed in the attack.

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 23, 2012 C7

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