RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Winning the Nobel Peace Prize is rare, and for this year’s laureate simply getting to the ceremony was nearly as extraordinary. María Corina Machado had been in hiding for more than a year after her opposition movement defeated Nicolás Maduro in an election widely viewed as fraudulent. Extracting her from Venezuela and delivering her to Oslo required a daring, tightly timed operation.
The mission was led by U.S. Special Forces veteran Bryan Stern, founder of the Grey Bull Rescue Foundation, with a team of U.S. military veterans experienced in extractions. They called it Operation Golden Dynamite, a nod to Alfred Nobel. With only a week to plan, they ruled out a land route because too many checkpoints would put Machado at risk and chose a sea extraction instead.
The coast added complications: U.S. forces have recently been striking suspected narcotics vessels off Venezuela, and Stern said he coordinated with U.S. officials who were aware of activity in the area. He deliberately avoided using a large, fast boat that might look like the vessels traffickers use and attract military attention.
The Caribbean rendezvous did not go smoothly. Machado’s boat missed the agreed-upon point, so Stern’s team steamed toward her. In the dead of night, with 10-foot waves and only flashlights for guidance, both crews approached each other warily, fearing cartel members, government agents or worse. ‘I could be Maduro’s guys, I could be cartel guys — anything really,’ Stern said of the tension.
When voices could finally be heard someone called out, ‘It’s me — María!’ Stern hauled her aboard. The trip to a nearby Caribbean island, widely reported to be Curaçao, was calmer; a private plane met her there and took her on to Oslo.
Stern said Machado endured the cold, wet and hunger without complaint. ‘She didn’t complain once,’ he said, later calling her ‘gnarly’ and ‘pretty awesome,’ and noting how risky the operation was given her prominence.