Hernandez finished third with 1385 points behind Mexican sisters Mayan and Catherine Oliver. 

"it’s a tremendous opportunity that Panam Sports is giving us," Hernandez said.

"It’s fair because the problem that arose isn’t the athletes’ fault, it is fair that they allowed us to compete and participate to pursue our Olympic berths and try to make our name known, as we cannot represent our country."

Hernandez had led the after the fencing ranking round with 256 points after she won 23 bouts and lost nine.

She added a further four points in the bonus round.

Hernandez placed fifth in swimming with a time of 2min 29.60sec but slipped to 16th in the riding.

On the laser run she came through to take bronze with a time of 11:59.50.

“I truly believe it’s difficult for all of us not to represent our country, it is challenging not to hear our names and have to compete as independent athletes, not under the flag that has represented us all our lives," Hernandez said.

"We carry it in our hearts and strive to raise it as high as we can."

A total of 82 athletes from Guatemala are competing at Santiago 2023 under the Panam Sports flag in 17 sports.

Their first medal had come when Maria Higueros took taekwondo silver in the women’s individual poomsae behind Kaitlyn Reclusado of the United States.

The Guatemala National Olympic Committee were suspended in October last year after a disputed election for President of the NOC.

The IOC require that any National Olympic Committee can "freely conduct its elections in accordance with its own statutes and the Olympic Charter".

If the situation is not resolved, any Guatemalans who qualify for the Olympics will be obliged to compete as individuals under the Olympic Flag and anthem.