Arya News - María Machado’s extraction came courtesy of a U.S. organization, Grey Bull Rescue Foundation.
( NewsNation ) — It’s now widely known that Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was secretly spirited out of her country so that she could pick up her Nobel Peace Prize in Norway.
Not so widely known are some of the details of her daring escape from Nicolás Maduro’s socialist dictatorship as the Latin American country finds itself in the crosshairs of the Trump administration .
Machado’s extraction came courtesy of a U.S. organization, Grey Bull Rescue Foundation , which usually helps Americans out of dangerous foreign settings. Founder and chairman Bryan Stern, a combat veteran and admirer of Machado, joined “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” on Friday to talk about the dangerous task.
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“This is our 800 th mission that we’ve done. We’ve rescued over 8,400 people, but this is the first person we’ve ever rescued who has a Wikipedia page,” Stern said.
The request for help came Friday, Dec. 5, he said, and by Tuesday, Dec. 9, “Operation Golden Dynamite” had been initiated.
“This was very, very, very difficult. There were lots of people involved. Lots of people helped out that don’t know that they helped out,” Stern said. “There was lots of deception involved, lots of ruses involved, lots of thought involved. But it worked.”
Machado had been in hiding for a year. To avoid being discovered as she fled, she reportedly disguised herself with a wig and slipped through multiple military checkpoints before reaching a fishing boat bound for Curaçao.
Stern, who went on the mission, said he coordinated with people in the U.S. government so that the boats used in the escape would not be confused with the type of drug vessel the Trump administration has targeted for lethal strikes in the Caribbean.
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“We made sure they didn’t blow us up, which is very important,” he said. “Two boats rendezvousing in the middle of the night off the coast of Venezuela is a great way to become an accidental target.”
During the rough sea trip, Stern said, he talked with Machado about family. He said he was impressed that she did not complain about the cold, wet conditions — maybe one reason she has been referred to as the “Iron Lady.”
“She talked mostly about excitement to see her daughters, to see her children for the first time in two years,” Stern said.
From Curaçao, a private jet took Machado to Norway, where she was received with adulation Thursday.
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