Three Cuban Judokas Defect After Winning Medals at Pan American Open in Florida

Lianet Cardona, Dayanara Curbelo and Jonathan Charón left Cuba’s delegation after competing at the Pan American Open in Florida, Infobae reported, even though all three had won medals and were scheduled to compete the following weekend at the Pan American Open in Montreal. The defections were reported only hours after Cuba’s official media had highlighted the “joys” and “hopes” that judo gave the island over the weekend, 14ymedio noted.

The departures remove three national-team judokas aged 21 and 22 from Cuba’s plans for the Montreal event, according to 14ymedio. Cardona and Curbelo left the team on Tuesday, Cuban judo coach Alain Fernández, who is based in the United States, told reporters, and the digital outlet Cubalite reported the next day that Charón had also separated from the Cuban contingent after finishing his tournament run.

Three medals in Florida, three departures

All three athletes reached the podium in Florida. Curbelo took silver in the over-78-kilogram division after defeating Poland’s Urszula Hofman and the Dominican Republic’s Moira Morillo before losing the final to Venezuela’s Karen León. Cardona won silver at 78 kilograms after beating the American Lydia Coleman and falling to Venezuela’s Elvismar Rodríguez in the title bout. Charón captured gold at 60 kilograms by defeating Brazil’s Michel Augusto in the final; he had won the Central American and Caribbean Games title.

Curbelo, 21, is from Artemisa and served as Cuba’s flag bearer at the 2025 Junior Pan American Games in Asunción, where she won the country’s only judo gold medal, according to 14ymedio. She added bronzes at the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo and the senior continental championship in Panama City this year. Cardona, 22, from Santiago de Cuba, took bronze at Santo Domingo 2026 and also has bronzes from the 2024 Pan American and Oceania Championship in Rio de Janeiro and the 2025 edition in Santiago, Chile. Charón, 22, from Guantánamo, has medaled at four consecutive Pan American Judo Championships — bronze in Calgary 2023 and Rio de Janeiro 2024, silver in Santiago 2025 and gold in Panama City 2026 — plus a bronze at the 2025 Grand Slam in Tbilisi, 14ymedio reported. Official Cuban press had dubbed Charón the “fresh Central American and Caribbean king,” and the Island viewed the three as reasons to expect good news from Cuban judo in different tournaments.

Alain Fernández on resources and opportunity

Fernández said the lack of resources and limited professional opportunities are driving athletes off the island. He asked, in remarks carried by Infobae: “How long will we keep losing athletes that cost us so much effort and sacrifice to train?”

The three judokas were considered prospects for upcoming international tournaments, and their absence disrupts the Cuban federation’s planning for Montreal, brunomasi.com.py reported. Their departure dismantled the technical planning the Cuban Judo Federation had structured for the Montreal Open.

A wider exodus: Guzmán López and the Paris 2024 numbers

The judo departures came one day after Cuban wrestler Yusneylis Guzmán López left the national delegation during a stopover in Mexico while the team traveled to Brazil. Guzmán López, 30, won silver in 50-kilogram freestyle wrestling at the Paris 2024 Olympics, becoming the first Cuban woman to win an Olympic wrestling medal, and was named Cuba’s best female athlete that year.

Cuban sports authorities acknowledge that more than 1,000 athletes have left the island’s delegations since 2013, according to the reports. The toll showed in Paris 2024: Cuba’s official delegation of 61 competitors in 16 sports won nine medals — two gold, one silver and six bronze — its worst Olympic haul in 52 years. Meanwhile, 21 Cuban-born athletes competing under other flags won nine medals of their own: one gold, four silver and four bronze.

Fernández attributed the departures to “the difficult economic, political and social situation in Cuba, along with the lack of resources, limited international competition and limited professional opportunities,” which he said “continues to affect our sport,” Infobae reported.

Earlier coverage: Three Cuban Judo Medalists Defect After Florida Tournament

More on this story: Cuban judokas claim two gold medals at Florida Open · Judoka Kassandra Espinoza Wins Bronze at Pan American Open

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