Peraza retired from Santana in 1990 at the age of 66, although traveled to Santiago de Chile for a 1992 concert with Santana in front of a crowd of over 100,000 people. In 2005 he appeared on a recording by John Santos, 20th Anniversary, which included "El Changüí de Peraza" with Peraza on bongos. In 2002, he returned to his native Cuba, his first trip there in over fifty years.
Cuban-born drummer Armando Peraza, a self-taught musician who transformed himself from a homeless orphan in Havana to a world-recognized bongo and conga expert who performed with Carlos Santana for nearly two decades, died Monday in a South San Francisco hospital.