Nobel peace laureate María Corina Machado greets supporters from a balcony of the Grand Resort in Oslo, Norway, within the early hours of Dec 11, 2025.
ODD ANDERSEN/AFP by way of Getty Photos
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ODD ANDERSEN/AFP by way of Getty Photos
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — It is a rare achievement to win the Nobel Peace Prize. However for this yr’s laureate, even attending to the ceremony was a feat of its personal.
María Corina Machado has spent greater than a yr in hiding after her opposition motion defeated President Nicolás Maduro in final yr’s election — a vote extensively considered as fraudulent. Getting her out of Venezuela and safely to Oslo required an operation worthy of a thriller.
On the heart of that mission was U.S. Particular Forces Veteran Bryan Stern, the bearded, broad-shouldered founding father of Gray Bull Rescue Basis. Stern and his staff of U.S. army veterans have pulled off tons of of extractions around the globe. However this one, he says, was completely different.
“She’s the second most popular person in the Western Hemisphere after Maduro,” he mentioned. “Because of that signature, that’s what made this operation very hard.”
Stern and his staff had solely per week to plan Machado’s escape, a mission they known as Operation Golden Dynamite — a nod to Alfred Nobel, the Peace Prize founder who additionally invented dynamite.
A land route was dominated out — too many checkpoints the place she’d be acknowledged. So, they determined to maneuver by sea.
However they needed to be cautious. The U.S. army has constructed up a big presence off Venezuela’s coast, destroying practically two dozen alleged narco-trafficking boats in current months, killing at the least 87 folks. Stern would not talk about particulars, however says he coordinated with U.S. officers who have been conscious they’d be working within the space.
He was cautious to keep away from utilizing a ship that might flip right into a goal. “I didn’t want a big giant boat with big engines that could go fast and cut through waves,” he mentioned. “That’s what the narcos use — and the U.S. military likes to blow them up.”
Then their plan hit one other snag: Machado’s boat by no means arrived on the predetermined rendezvous level within the Caribbean Sea.
“We were supposed to meet in the middle, but when that couldn’t happen, we pivoted and went to them,” Stern mentioned.
In pitch darkness, with 10-foot waves smashing the perimeters of each boats and solely flashlights to information them, nerves frayed. Every crew nervous the opposite could possibly be cartel members, authorities brokers, or worse.
“I could be Maduro’s guys, I could be cartel guys — anything really,” Stern mentioned. “Everyone is skittish approaching each other in the dead of night at sea. In 10-foot waves? This is scary stuff.”
Lastly, as soon as they have been shut sufficient to listen to each other, a voice reduce throughout the water.
“It’s me — María!”
Stern hauled her aboard. With the wind at their backs, the ultimate leg to a Caribbean island — which he declined to call, however is extensively reported to be Curaçao — was mercifully clean. A non-public airplane was ready to take her the remainder of the best way to Oslo.
Stern says Machado was harder than the crusty veterans serving to her escape.
“We’re all bitching and moaning — it’s cold, it’s wet, we’re hungry, it’s dark,” he mentioned. “She didn’t complain once.”
Stern admits he was a bit star struck by Machado. He’d adopted her combat for democratic change for years. He’d at all times assumed Venezuela’s “Iron Lady” obtained her nickname from her political steeliness. However after that evening, he says it is one thing extra.
“She’s gnarly,” he mentioned, laughing. “Pretty awesome.”
