Jaime Lobio Hernández ‘defected’ on Sunday, and Roidmel Danyer did so a few days earlier.
14ymedio, Havana, 8 April 2025 — Desertions are once again making a dent in the regime. The most recent escape was on Sunday by Jaime Lobio Hernández. The abandonment of the 19-year-old Cuban athlete was recorded in Mexico City, five days after his participation in the Pan-American Championship U-23 of Greco-Roman wrestling, in the state of Querétaro.
Lobio Hernández gave up the event that will take place from April 11 to 13 and in which he would have looked for a ticket in the 125 kilogram category for the Pan American Junior 2025, which will take place in Asunción, Paraguay.
The Cuban’s escape was announced by Roly Dámaso on his social networks, who stressed that he is the second wrestler who has taken advantage of the trip to cut his ties with Cuban sports. Roidmel Danyer did it earlier. The athlete, who was enrolled in the 60 kilogram category, had barely arrived in Mexico when he left the delegation.
Dámaso said that at the Mexican headquarters Cuba also confirmed his participation in the Pan American Seniors Championship, scheduled from May 8 to 11 in Monterrey, Nuevo León.
Lobio Hernández gave up the event that will take place from April 11 to 13, where he would have competed for a ticket in the 125 kilogram category for the Pan American Junior 2025
Cuban authorities have not yet published any position on the abandonment of Lobio Hernández. The official media Jit confirmed this Sunday the escape of one Greco-Roman wrestler, who would be Roidmel Danyer.
The publication refers to the end of “a profitable training base” that began on March 28.
Without Jaime Lobio Hernández and Roidmel Danyer, the Cuban team was left with 16 athletes of the 18 who traveled to Mexico. The list includes five competitors in male freestyle wrestling and six women, plus five in the Greco-Roman modality.
Last May, Ángel Pacheco left the national team while he was at the team’s training base in Croatia, heading to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Susana Martínez and Santiago Hernández, two members of the Cuban wrestling team, also took advantage of a training in Acapulco, Mexico, in February 2024, to escape and break with the regime.
In 2023, at least three wrestlers escaped from Cuba. Two of them were Yoannia Pérez and Liliana Duane, who fled the delegation during a stopover in Mexico, on their way to El Salvador, and Hangelen Llanes, who escaped in Paris during training with a view to the Belgrade World Wrestling Championship.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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