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Three Cuban judokas have left their national delegation after competing at the Florida Panamerican Open, held October 31 and November 1 in Gainesville, according to press reports citing a source close to the team. All six Cuban athletes at the tournament reached the finals.
The departures came before the team was due to travel to Canada for this weekend’s Montreal Panamerican Open, scheduled for November 7 and 8.
Those reports rely on an unnamed source close to Cuba’s national judo team. Cubanos por el Mundo has not found official confirmation from the Cuban federation or public statements from the athletes.
According to that source, the three are Jonathan Charón, who competes at 60 kilograms, Lianet Cardona, at 78 kilograms, and Dayanara Curbelo, at over 78 kilograms. All three reached the podium in Florida: Charón won gold, while Cardona and Curbelo took silver.
Cuban judokas’ results in Florida
Cuba finished with four golds and two silvers, according to results published by the International Judo Federation.
Charón, from Guantánamo, beat Brazil’s Michel Augusto in the 60-kilogram final, avenging a loss to the same opponent at the 2025 continental championship in Santiago. Orlando Polanco at 66 kilograms, Iván Felipe Silva at 100 kilograms and Andy Granda at over 100 kilograms also won titles.
Cardona lost the 78-kilogram final to Venezuela’s Elvismar Rodríguez, and Curbelo lost the over-78-kilogram final to Venezuela’s Karen León.
Careers of the three athletes
The three athletes had built international records in their divisions.
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Curbelo was Cuba’s flag bearer at the 2025 Junior Pan American Games in Asunción, where she won gold in judo. This year she competed at the World Championships in Baku and won bronze at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo and at the Pan American Championships in Panama City.
Cardona was third in Santo Domingo and won bronze at the Pan American-Oceania Championships in Rio de Janeiro in 2024 and Santiago in 2025. She lost in the first round at the most recent World Championships, in Baku.
Charón reached the continental podium four years in a row: bronze in Calgary in 2023 and Rio de Janeiro in 2024, silver in Santiago in 2025 and gold in Panama City in 2026. He also won gold at the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo and bronze at the 2025 Tbilisi Grand Slam.
Other departures from Cuban delegations
These departures add to other recent cases. This week, Cubanos por el Mundo reported that Olympic silver medalist Yusneylis Guzmán reportedly left her delegation during a stopover in Mexico, and in October two Cuban weightlifters left their team in Mexico. In April 2025, two other Cuban judokas left their delegation in Chile (in Spanish) and sought refuge there.
Charón, Cardona and Curbelo appear on the International Judo Federation’s entry list for Montreal, checked on Thursday, alongside 10 other Cuban athletes. No information has been released on how their absence would affect Cuba’s participation.
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