The judokas Jonathan Charón, Lianet Cardona, and Dayanara Curbelo left the Cuban delegation after competing in the Pan American Open in Florida, United States, where they won one gold and two silver medals, according to a report by Cubalite, which cited a source close to the national team.
The three were key figures on the team in their respective divisions and were scheduled to participate this weekend in the Pan American Open in Montreal, Canada. Their departures occurred after a tournament in which all six representatives from Cuba reached the finals.
Charón won the title in the 60-kilogram category by defeating the Brazilian Michel Augusto. Cardona earned silver in the 78-kilogram category after losing to the Venezuelan Elvismar Rodríguez, while Curbelo finished second in the over 78-kilogram category, being surpassed by the also Venezuelan Karen León.
The other Cuban champions were Orlando Polanco, Iván Felipe Silva, and Andy Granda.
According to Infobae, which gathered information from Cuban coach Alain Fernández, Cardona and Curbelo left the team on Tuesday. The following day, Cubalite also reported the departure of Charón.
Curbelo, 21 years old and from Artemisa, was the flag bearer for Cuba at the Junior Pan American Games in Asunción 2025, where she won the only gold medal for Cuban judo.
Cardona, a 22-year-old from Santiago, won bronze at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo 2026.
Charón, also 22 years old, had accumulated four consecutive continental podiums: bronze in 2023 and 2024, silver in 2025, and gold in 2026. His record also includes a bronze at the 2025 Tbilisi Grand Slam.
Abandonment occurred just two days after the wrestler Yusneylis Guzmán López, Olympic silver medalist in freestyle wrestling in Paris 2024, left the Cuban delegation during a layover in Mexico while the team was en route to Brazil.
The coach Fernández did not hide his frustration over the new talent drain, as reported by Infobae: "How long will we continue to lose athletes who have taken us so much effort and sacrifice to train?"
The technician pointed out that "the difficult economic, political, and social situation in Cuba, along with the lack of resources, limited international exposure, and scarce professional opportunities, continues to impact our sport".
Cuban sports authorities themselves acknowledge that since 2013, over a thousand athletes have left official delegations. This exodus was already evident at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where Cuba's official delegation secured only nine of the 18 medals won by athletes of Cuban origin—the remaining nine were earned by competitors representing other flags—marking the worst official Olympic harvest for the island in 52 years.
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