Four Cuban athletes participating in the Pan American Games held in Toronto have defected to the United States, the country's rowing coach revealed on Wednesday.

Liosmel Ramos, Wilber Turro, Manuel Suárez and Orlando Sotolongo were all part of the Cuban contingent at the international multi-sport event and have been in touch with their teammates through Facebook, coach Juan Carlos Reyes said. A total of 311 Cubans are taking part in the competition, which is held from July 10-26 in Canada's largest city.

Despite the recent rapprochement between Washington and Havana, their defections are no surprise, Joe Kehoskie, a baseball agent who has helped several Cubans cross into the United States, told the Globe and Mail.

"It really couldn't be easier for these guys. All they needed to do if they defected in St. Catharines is cross one of the bridges into the United States and physically present themselves at an immigration checkpoint," Kehoskie explained in reference to the border crossing that links the Toronto metropolitan area to its American neighbors.

In accordance with U.S. immigration policy, Cuban nationals who present themselves at a checkpoint are automatically taken in as refugees, the agent said, speculating that the rowers likely planned their escape months -- or even years -- in advance.

"It probably wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing," Kehoskie noted.

José Azel, a senior scholar at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami, told the Toronto Star that the newly established diplomatic ties with the United States would do little to deter citizens of the island nation from leaving their homeland.

"The Cuban economy is a disaster due to the policies of the Cuban government. It has nothing to do with economic sanctions," Azel said. "Cuba is not going to change just because a handful of Americans go to Varadero and drink mojitos (on) the beach."

Last year alone, 28,300 Cuban migrants arrived in the United States -- the vast majority of them via third countries such as Canada,  U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics show.