The daring operation that whisked Machado out of Venezuela : NPR

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Receiving the Nobel Peace Prize is a remarkable achievement. But for this year’s laureate, even getting to the ceremony was a special feat.

Maria Corina Machado spent more than a year on the run after her opposition movement defeated Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in last year's elections by a wide margin, according to voting records verified by international observers. Maduro refused to leave his post and ordered a massive crackdown on the opposition.

Getting Machado out of Venezuela and safely back to Oslo required an operation worthy of a thriller. At the center of this mission was US Special Forces veteran Brian Stern, the bearded, broad-shouldered founder Gray Bull Rescue Fund. Stern and his team of U.S. military veterans have conducted hundreds of evacuation missions around the world. But this one, he said, was different.

“She's the second most popular person in the Western Hemisphere after Maduro,” he said. “Because of this signature, the operation was very difficult.”

Stern and his team had just a week to plan Machado's escape, a mission they called Operation Gold Dynamite. – an allusion to Alfred Nobel, founder of the Peace Prize, who also invented dynamite.

The land route was ruled out – there were too many checkpoints where she could be recognized. So they decided to move by sea.

But they had to be careful. The U.S. military has bolstered a significant presence off the coast of Venezuela, destroying nearly two dozen suspected drug-smuggling vessels 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 area.

He tried to avoid using a boat that could become a target. “I didn’t need a big giant boat with big engines that could go fast and cut through the waves,” he said. “This is what drug traffickers use and the US military likes to blow them up.”

Then their plan ran into another problem: Machado's boat never arrived at the predetermined rendezvous point in the Caribbean.
“We were supposed to meet in the middle, but when that didn’t happen, we turned around and walked toward them,” Stern said.

In pitch darkness, with 10-foot waves crashing against the sides of both boats and only torches to help them, nerves were on edge. Each team worried that the other might be cartel members, government agents, or worse.

“I could be Maduro’s people, I could be the cartel guys, whatever,” Stern said. “Everyone gets scared when they approach each other in the dead of night at sea. On 10 foot waves? It's scary.”

Finally, when they were close enough to hear each other, a voice cut through the water.

“It’s me, Maria!”

Stern brought her on board. With the wind at his back, the final leg of the journey to the Caribbean island, which he declined to name but was widely reported to be Curacao, went fortunately smoothly. A private plane was waiting for her the rest of the way to Oslo.

Stern says Machado was tougher than the tough veterans who helped her escape.
“We're all whining and moaning – it's cold, we're wet, we're hungry, it's dark,” he said. “She never complained.”

Stern admits he was a little impressed by Machado. He followed her struggle for democratic change for years. He always believed that the Venezuelan “Iron Lady” got her nickname because of her political toughness. But after that night, he says it's more than that.

“She’s clumsy,” he said, laughing. “Pretty amazing.”