Dramatic rescue gets Venezuelan leader Machado to Norway for Nobel Prize

The rescue operation to extract Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado and transport her to Norway in time to receive the Nobel Peace Prize involved a complex set of complications and various components on land, at sea and in the air.

The mission, called Operation Golden Dynamite, was led by Bryan Stern, a U.S. special forces veteran and founder of the Tampa-based Gray Bull Rescue Foundation, which specializes in high-risk rescue missions and evacuations, particularly from conflict and disaster areas.

Getting him out of Venezuela, where he was considered a fugitive by President Nicolás Maduro, involved disguise, deception, navigating rough seas and arranging flight options.

“He is perceived by the Maduro regime the same way we perceive Osama bin Laden,” Stern told Fox News. “This level of manhunt, if you will.”

US SECRET TEAM LEADER TOLD ABOUT THE ‘DANGEROUS’ MISSION TO RESCUE THE VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER

Machado has been hiding in Venezuela since Maduro won a highly disputed election last year and has not been seen in public for months.

Stern emphasized that the US government was not involved in the operation.

His team maintained a presence in the Caribbean, Venezuela and the neighboring island of Aruba in preparation for operations in the South American region.

Stern said the biggest challenge was getting Machado out of the country even though he was a well-known figure there. To move him from his home to a “beach landing site” his team reportedly did “all sorts of things designed to create some confusion.”

“Anything we thought could hide his face was used.” Stern said. “Everything we could think of, such as digital signature, physical signature. On top of that, we also carried out some deception operations in the field. We made noise in some places to make people think that something was happening that wasn’t there.”

VENEZUELAN DISSIDENT MACHADO CREDITS TRUMP FOR DEVELOPING THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT AND DEDICATED THE NOBEL TO HIM

Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro brandishes a sword said to belong to independence hero Simon Bolivar during a civil-military event at the military academy in Caracas, Venezuela, on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. (Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)

Stern explained that the maritime operation got off to a rough start. Of the two boats deployed for the mission, the ship that physically removed Machado reportedly lost its GPS in turbulent seas and suffered a mechanical outage that delayed the operation. The team had to continue “in the dark of night” in “pitch darkness”; The seas were so rough that one of Stern’s experienced operators reported vomiting continuously for nine hours.

Getting to the meeting point added another layer of difficulty. Stern’s boat and Machado’s ship had to find each other in pitch black seas while maintaining radio silence to avoid detection, ultimately locating each other with flashlights.

Stern said he had to be careful because he feared the approaching boat might be a trap set by Venezuelan forces. To verify that it was safe to proceed, his larger ship circled Machado’s boat and flashed the crew.

After physically pulling Machado onto his boat, Stern warned the rest of the team that Machado was secured: “Bonus, bonus, bonus.”

“We are currently at large on my boat with Maria Corina Machado, the most wanted woman in the Western Hemisphere,” he said.

“I’m trying to remove the most wanted man in the Western Hemisphere,” Stern said. “Personally, he’s a hero of mine. He’s my hero. I’ve been following him for years.”

VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER SAYS COUNTRY IS ‘ON THE THRESHOLD OF FREEDOM’ WHILE NEW MANIFESTO COMES TO REGIME CHANGE

Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado waves at the Grand Hotel early Thursday, December 11, 2025, in Oslo, Norway. (Lice Åserud/NTB Scanpix via AP)

Once in international waters, the new concern was to avoid any appearance that they had kidnapped a Venezuelan, which would give the government any justification to attack.

“They’re lying. They could have killed us for any reason,” Stern said. “We’re in the middle of the ocean and there’s no one around to see the truth… we’re scared, we’re nervous, we’re running away and we can’t make it to our appointment.”

Stern ordered the boat captain to drive at full speed and not stop for anything, fearing the Venezuelan regime would follow.

“My boatman, I told him I didn’t care, I didn’t care who came,” Stern said. “You’re not stopping. You’re not stopping. I don’t care, I don’t care who it is. Don’t stop. Let them chase us if they have to. We have to start landing.”

At one point during the escape, two F-18 fighter jets were reportedly flying overhead. Stern called this moment a potential complication because they could not determine whether the jets were hostile or friendly, but noted that this was probably not part of Navy coordination.

“There’s an aircraft carrier in the Caribbean that launches a plane every twenty minutes. I don’t know,” Stern said. “I can tell you that no one in the Navy ever said, ‘Don’t worry, bro, we sent two F-18s to protect you.'”

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION

The marine team successfully delivered Machado to safety. Stern said his team was also preparing for a possible air evacuation, but this plan was abandoned after Machado’s last-minute change. Instead, the final flight to Norway was arranged by his personal network using a friend’s private jet, which resulted in his safe arrival.

While Gray Bull Rescue conducts operations in high-threat environments such as Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and Haiti, Stern said Machado’s extraction was uniquely challenging, describing it as the “overwhelmingly” complex mission in the agency’s 800-mission history.