RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Winning the Nobel Peace Prize is rare. For this year’s laureate, simply getting to the ceremony was almost as remarkable.
María Corina Machado had been in hiding for more than a year after her opposition movement defeated Nicolás Maduro in an election widely seen as fraudulent. Getting her out of Venezuela and to Oslo required a daring, tightly timed operation.
Leading the mission was U.S. Special Forces veteran Bryan Stern, founder of Grey Bull Rescue Foundation. Stern and a team of U.S. military veterans who have carried out hundreds of extractions worldwide took charge of what they called Operation Golden Dynamite — a nod to Alfred Nobel, founder of the Peace Prize and inventor of dynamite.
They had just a week to plan. A land route was dismissed because too many checkpoints could expose Machado. The team opted to move her by sea.
Complicating the plan was the U.S. military’s heavy presence off Venezuela’s coast; in recent months it has struck dozens of suspected narco-trafficking vessels, killing scores of people. Stern says he coordinated with U.S. officials who knew operations were taking place in the area, and he deliberately avoided using a big, fast boat that might resemble narcotics runners’ vessels or draw military attention. “I didn’t want a big giant boat with big engines that could go fast and cut through waves,” he said. “That’s what the narcos use — and the U.S. military likes to blow them up.”
The rendezvous in the Caribbean Sea didn’t go as planned. Machado’s boat failed to reach the agreed point, so Stern’s team pivoted and steamed toward her instead. In the dead of night with 10-foot waves battering both crafts and only flashlights for guidance, tension ran high. Each crew feared the other could be cartel members, government agents, or worse. “I could be Maduro’s guys, I could be cartel guys — anything really,” Stern said. “Everyone is skittish approaching each other in the dead of night at sea. In 10-foot waves? This is scary stuff.”
When the boats drew close enough to hear voices, someone called out: “It’s me — María!” Stern hauled her aboard. The final stretch to a nearby Caribbean island — widely reported to be Curaçao — was calmer. A private plane met her there and flew her onward to Oslo.
Stern said Machado never complained despite the cold, wet, hungry conditions. “We’re all bitching and moaning — it’s cold, it’s wet, we’re hungry, it’s dark,” he said. “She didn’t complain once.” He admitted being impressed. “She’s the second most popular person in the Western Hemisphere after Maduro,” he added, noting that made the operation especially risky. After the escape he laughed and summed her up: “She’s gnarly. Pretty awesome.”