EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — The owner of Juarez’s world-famous Kentucky Club has died, according to posts by relatives on social media.
Sergio Macedonio Peña Acosta, 71, died on Thursday of natural causes, his son Sergio Peña Jr. posted.
“A sad and painful chapter of my life closes today here on earth. […] saying goodbye to my father who has joined God’s glory,” Peña Jr. posted.
Sources close to the family tell Border Report that Peña’s son said his father died of COVID-19.
The Kentucky Club has been a Juarez fixture since 1920 and is widely credited as the birthplace of the margarita, a drink made of tequila and lime juice. Located a few blocks south of the Paso del Norte port of entry into the United States, the Kentucky Club has been often visited by Hollywood celebrities, including Marilyn Monroe and Steve McQueen, whose photos hang on the walls.
The bar has been closed during the past few months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A bartender makes strawberry daiquiris at the historic Kentucky Club on March 23, 2010 in Juarez, Mexico. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 
A bartender makes strawberry daiquiris at the historic Kentucky Club on March 23, 2010 in Juarez, Mexico. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 
Pictures of bullfighters adorn the walls of the historic Kentucky Club on March 23, 2010 in Juarez, Mexico. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 
A couple enjoys a meal at the historic Kentucky Club on March 23, 2010 in Juarez, Mexico. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 
A woman walks by the historic Kentucky Club on March 24, 2010 in Juarez, Mexico. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 
A bartender makes strawberry daiquiris at the historic Kentucky Club on March 23, 2010 in Juarez, Mexico. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 
A man plays American rock songs for a couple inside the historic Kentucky Club on March 24, 2010 in Juarez, Mexico. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 
A man plays American rock songs for a couple inside the historic Kentucky Club on March 24, 2010 in Juarez, Mexico. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 
Pictures of bullfighters adorn the walls of the historic Kentucky Club on March 23, 2010 in Juarez, Mexico. The Kentucky Club, once a thriving establishment for Americans including Steve McQueen and Marilyn Monroe, has fallen on hard times due to the lack of tourists in Juarez and a community wide fear of going out after dark. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 
Carlos, a bartender, makes drinks at the historic Kentucky Club on March 23, 2010 in Juarez, Mexico. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 
Tables sit empty at the historic Kentucky Club on March 23, 2010 in Juarez, Mexico. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 
The historic Kentucky Club is seen on March 24, 2010 in Juarez, Mexico. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 
Pictures from the Mexican Revolution in 1910 adorn the walls of the historic Kentucky Club on March 23, 2010 in Juarez, Mexico.(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 
Bar stools sit empty at the historic Kentucky Club on March 23, 2010 in Juarez, Mexico. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 
JUAREZ, MEXICO – MARCH 23: The historic Kentucky Club is seen on March 23, 2010 in Juarez, Mexico. The Kentucky Club, once a thriving establishment for Americans including Steve McQueen and Marilyn Monroe, has fallen on hard times due to the lack of tourists in Juarez and a community wide fear of going out after dark. Despite this, The Kentucky Club still keeps regular hours and serves its special margarita, which was supposedly invented here in 1946 by a longtime bartender Lorenzo Garcia. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano all visited Mexico on Tuesday for discussions centered on Mexico’s endemic drug-related violence. The border city of Juarez, Mexico has been racked by violent drug related crime recently and has quickly become one of the most dangerous cities in the world to live. As drug cartels have been fighting over ever lucrative drug corridors along the United States border, the murder rate in Juarez has risen to 173 slayings for every 100,000 residents. President Felipe Calderon’s strategy of sending 7000 troops to Juarez has not mitigated the situation. With a population of 1.3 million, 2,600 people died in drug-related violence last year and 500 so far this year, including two Americans recently who worked for the U.S. Consulate and were killed as they returned from a children’s party. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Border Report reached out to the Peña family and is awaiting a response.
