Robert Landy Fernández, Félix Puente Batista, Keiler Ávila Núñez and Suannet de la Caridad Nápoles, the first to flee, still have not applied for asylum.
14ymedio, Havana, August 18, 2025 — Cuban judoka Jonathan Delgado took advantage of an oversight by the delegation at the Paraguay 2025 Junior Pan American Games to escape last Friday. The athlete’s departure “leaves a void within the team and generates reflections on the challenges that many athletes face in their sporting and personal path,” said Facebook space Del-pí Al-pá.
Delgado completed the competition schedule at the event. His first match was in the quarterfinals in the category of more than 100 kilograms, in which he was surpassed by the Dominican José Miguel Brache. However, the combination of results allowed him to access the playoffs, where last Tuesday he was defeated by the American Kanta Ueyama.
Before his return to the island, the judoka decided to escape and follow in the footsteps of the three members of the team of eight with helmsman, Robert Landy Fernández, Félix Puente Batista and Keiler Ávila Núñez, who won the bronze medal, and the handball champion Suannet de la Caridad Nápoles. All of them escaped on Wednesday.
Delgado was not afraid that the head of the Cuban delegation in the Panamerican Games Junior Paraguay 2025 and president of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder), Osvaldo Vento Montiller, would report the escape to the Tenth Police Station in Asunción and ask for support to locate the deserters.
Despite the fact that the local media made known the flight of the Cubans, the sports mission has kept silent about the absences. On Thursday, the president of the Paraguayan Olympic Committee (COP), Camilo Pérez, confirmed that the head of the island’s sports mission told them that the athletes “withdrew from the delegation.”
These statements were followed the same day by those of the Paraguayan Minister of the Interior, Enrique Riera, to confirm that the Cuban athletes informed Vento Montiller of their decision to not return to Cuba. “The police in these cases do what is called an alert to find out if there are any issues to worry about, but apparently it would be a case of desertion,” he said.
Commissioner Pedro Bavera, of the Tenth Police Station in Asunción, who received the report of the flight, said that no reports were found that would lead to the location of the Cubans.
To date, none of the five Cuban athletes has approached the authorities for asylum. Nevertheless, the Minister of the Interior hopes that they will contact the National Commission for Stateless Persons and Refugees (CONARE) to initiate this process.
Cuba ranks ninth on the medal list with four gold, two silver and four bronze medals. The event that ends on August 23, and Brazil is currently in the lead with 52 first places, 27 second places on the podium and 36 third places.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
