Summary: Bryan Stern, head of the Grey Bull Rescue Foundation, described a risky, multi-stage extraction that brought Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado out of the country while her daughter accepted the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. Stern said the team did not initially know Machado’s identity and faced sustained danger, including a nighttime fishing-boat crossing in five- to 10-foot seas. Machado had been hiding since a January detention in Caracas after anti-Maduro protests. The operation comes amid heightened U.S. pressure on Nicolás Maduro’s government, including a recent tanker seizure.
‘Very Dangerous’: U.S. Covert Team Details Daring Rescue Of Venezuelan Opposition Leader María Corina Machado
Opposition leader María Corina Machado gestures during an anti-government protest on Jan. 9 in Caracas, Venezuela.
A U.S. covert team carried out a multi-stage operation to extract Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado from the country while her daughter accepted the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf, the mission’s leader said.
Bryan Stern, a special-forces veteran and head of the Grey Bull Rescue Foundation, described the mission as hazardous and described the precautions taken to move Machado safely out of Venezuela during an interview on Fox News Radio’s "Brian Kilmeade Show."
"It was dangerous for her — very dangerous for her — dangerous for everybody involved, frankly," Stern said.
Stern said his team had been conducting operations in Venezuela and was contacted to carry out this extraction without initially knowing the subject’s identity. "We didn't know it was María at first," he said, adding that learning her identity "changed everything." Stern called Machado "a hero of mine for years" and said leading the mission was likely the greatest privilege of his career.
The escape combined land, air and sea movements. Stern recounted a perilous leg of the journey aboard a small fishing boat at night, in which the team battled "five- to 10-foot" seas and a retired Marine on board became violently seasick. Stern praised Machado’s composure: "María didn't complain once," calling her behavior during the extraction "inspirational."
Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro brandishes a sword said to have belonged to independence hero Simon Bolivar during a civic-military event at the military academy in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Nov. 25.
The team operated under the constant risk of detection by forces loyal to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Stern said he did not relax until Machado reached Oslo, Norway, and that he took a deep breath only after seeing her embrace her daughter.
Machado had been in hiding since January following a detention in Caracas, which supporters say was politically motivated after she joined protests against Maduro’s inauguration. A longtime critic of the Maduro government and a leader of Venezuela’s main opposition movement, she was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her work promoting democracy and human rights.
Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, accepted the prize in Oslo on Machado’s behalf and said her mother will "never give up" on the goal of a free Venezuela. Machado has publicly thanked former President Donald Trump for his support and reportedly dedicated the prize to him.
The extraction comes as the U.S. has increased pressure on the Maduro government. In early December, U.S. officials confirmed that U.S. forces seized a multimillion-dollar tanker the U.S. says was carrying illicit Iranian oil — an action Venezuela denounced as "piracy."
Context
The operation highlights growing tensions between the Maduro government and international actors supporting Venezuelan opposition figures. The rescue and Machado’s public appearance in Europe — thousands of miles from Caracas — underline the stakes and risks involved in opposition activity inside Venezuela.
