Fernando Jorge (L) and Serguey Torres of Cuba, and teams of Russia and Poland compete during semifinal men’s canoe double (C2) 1000m semifinal at the Lagoa Stadium during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August 2016. File Photo by Orlando Barria/EPA
Nine members of Cuba’s national canoe team, five men and four women, defected during a sports tour in Canada after competing in two international events in Montreal, according to reports by independent Cuban media outlets and sports journalists.
The athletes were part of a 12-member delegation that competed in the third Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Cup and the Pan American Championships in the sport, held July 9 to 16 in Montreal.
According to sports journalist Raúl Rodríguez, the defections reduced the Cuban delegation to just three athletes.
So far, the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation and the Cuban Canoe Federation have not issued an official statement about the defections.
The departure of nine of the delegation’s 12 members leaves the Cuban team with little room to reorganize before the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo, whose opening ceremony is July 24.
Rodríguez said the federation will have to evaluate replacements within a few days to complete the crews.
In sprint canoeing, several events are contested in boats with two or four athletes, meaning the simultaneous loss of multiple team members requires entire crews to be reorganized and alters preparations for international competitions, Cuba en Miami reported.
Defections of Cuban athletes during international competitions have occurred repeatedly in recent years, becoming a recurring phenomenon amid the country’s economic, energy and social crisis.
According to Periodico Cubano, Cuba’s high-performance sports program recorded numerous athlete departures between 2021 and 2023 as emigration from the island increased.
One of the best-known cases occurred in October 2021, when Cuba’s under-23 baseball team returned to the island with only half its roster after 12 of its 24 players defected during an international tournament, according to Periodico Cubano and El Nuevo Herald.
In August, five members of the Cuban delegation competing at the Junior Pan American Games in Asunción, Paraguay, also defected and said they intended to remain in the country.
The whereabouts of the nine athletes and the circumstances under which they left the delegation remain unknown.
It also has not been reported whether they have sought immigration protection or whether they intend to remain in Canada.
