Miguel Díaz-Canel celebrated on social media the medals won by the Cuban delegation at the XXV Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo 2026. However, his posts revealed a notable absence: the two rowers who opened Cuba's medal tally were neither featured in the photographs nor mentioned in the messages from the leader, just a day after one of them left the delegation.
In his X account, Díaz-Canel shared a collage featuring six images of judokas, taekwondo athletes, and other Cuban athletes posing with their medals, accompanied by the message:
"Cuba resonates with each medal won by our athletes at the Central American and Caribbean Games #SantoDomingo2026."
In a second message, he added that "the courage of our judokas, the determination of the rowers, and the dedication of the taekwondo athletes are stories we follow with the pride of knowing they represent a people that does not give up. Congratulations to all the medalists."
Neither of the two publications mention Leah Daniela Almeida and Ana Laura Jiménez, who on July 25 secured the bronze medal in the Lightweight Women's Double Sculls with a time of 7:36.59, a result that marked the beginning of Cuba's medal tally at the regional event.
The desertion that changed the narrative
The omission coincides with Leah Daniela Almeida's departure from the Cuban delegation.
The athlete, originally from the town of Máximo Gómez in the Matanzas municipality of Perico, left the team on Monday, just before the delegation's return to the island, becoming the second Cuban athlete to defect during the Santo Domingo Games.
When both athletes competed as a pair, any image of the historic bronze inevitably features both rowers, which would explain the total absence of that achievement in the recent publications from the government.
A message that disappeared
Official media such as JIT and Juventud Rebelde reported on July 26 that Díaz-Canel congratulated the Cuban delegation and highlighted among the achievements the bronze medal won by the rowers.
However, that post is no longer visible on the leader's X profile.
So far, the Cuban sports authorities have not made an official statement regarding Almeida's departure from the delegation.
A repeated pattern
The official silence regarding athlete defections is not an isolated phenomenon.
Days before, field hockey goalkeeper Moisés David Torres Puig, 21 years old, also abandoned the Cuban delegation during the Games. On that occasion, Oscar Sánchez Serra, director of the official sports media JIT, attempted to downplay the incident by describing it as a strictly personal decision.
The desertions recorded in Santo Domingo occurred just a few days after another mass exodus from Cuban sports. Between July 15 and 18, nine of the twelve members of the national canoeing team abandoned the delegation during a competition in Montreal, Canada, marking the largest exodus recorded in that discipline to date.
Since 2022, more than a hundred Cuban athletes have left official delegations during international competitions each year.
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