The daring operation that whisked Machado out of Venezuela : NPR

Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado waves to supporters from the balcony of the Grand Hotel in Oslo, Norway, in the early hours of December 11, 2025.

ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images

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ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — It is an extraordinary achievement to win the Nobel Peace Prize. But for this year’s winner, even making it to the ceremony was an achievement in itself.

María Corina Machado spent more than a year in hiding after her opposition movement defeated President Nicolás Maduro in last year’s election – a vote widely seen as fraudulent. Getting her out of Venezuela and safely to Oslo required an operation worthy of a thriller.

At the center of this mission was Bryan Stern, US Special Forces veteran, bearded and broad-shouldered founder of the Gray Bull Rescue Foundation. Stern and his team of U.S. Army veterans have performed hundreds of extractions around the world. But this one, he said, was different.

“She is the second most popular person in the Western Hemisphere after Maduro,” he said. “Because of that signing, that’s what made this operation very difficult.”

Stern and his team had only a week to plan Machado’s escape, a mission they called Operation Golden Dynamite. — a nod to Alfred Nobel, the founder of the Peace Prize who also invented dynamite.

A land route was ruled out – too many checkpoints where it would be recognized. So they decided to travel by sea.

But they had to be careful. The U.S. military has established a significant presence off the coast of Venezuela, destroying nearly two dozen suspected narcotics-trafficking boats in recent months, killing at least 87 people. Stern would not discuss details, but says he coordinated with U.S. officials who knew they would be operating in the region.

He was careful to avoid using a boat that could become a target. “I didn’t want a big giant boat with big engines that could go fast and cut through the waves,” he said. “That’s what the narcos use – and the U.S. military loves to blow them up.”

Then their plan runs into another problem: Machado’s boat never arrived at the predetermined meeting point in the Caribbean Sea.
“We were supposed to meet halfway, but when that couldn’t happen, we pivoted and went toward them,” Stern said.

In total darkness, with 10-foot waves crashing into the sides of both boats and only flashlights to guide them, nerves were on edge. Each crew feared that the other might be members of a cartel, government agents, or worse.

“I could be Maduro’s guys, I could be the cartel guys – anything really,” Stern said. “Everyone is nervous when you approach each other in the middle of the night at sea. In 10-foot waves? It’s scary.”

Finally, once they were close enough to hear each other, a voice came across the water.

“It’s me, Maria!”

Stern lifted her aboard. With the wind at his back, the final leg to a Caribbean island – which he declined to name, but is widely reported to be Curaçao – fortunately went smoothly. A private plane was waiting to take him to Oslo.

Stern says Machado was tougher than the veterans who helped her escape.
“We all moan and groan – it’s cold, it’s damp, we’re hungry, it’s dark,” he said. “She didn’t complain once.”

Stern admits he was a little hit by Machado. He had been following her fight for democratic change for years. He had always thought that the “Iron Lady” of Venezuela got her nickname from her political courage. But after that night, he says it’s something more.

“She’s mean,” he said, laughing. “Pretty awesome.”