“It’s me, Maria.” Maria Corina Machado He shouted her name and waved his arms from a small fishing boat drifting in the Caribbean, among ten-foot waves, in the darkness of the open sea, early Wednesday morning. THE … The Venezuelan activist was about to end the most difficult part of her clandestine departure from her country, for a movie-worthy trip to Norway to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
Machado did not arrive in time to receive the award, but she managed to present herself to the world as the defender of the cause of freedom in Venezuela against the dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro. Details of Machado’s dangerous adventure were revealed by the ‘Wall Street Journal’. The New York newspaper spoke with Brian Sterna U.S. Army veteran who runs a private war zone extraction organization, with experience spanning from Afghanistan to Gaza.
It was Stern who shouted “Maria!” » of the boat which came to rescue the fishing boat on which Machado was. They had fled Venezuela clandestinely, after years of Machado leading the democratic opposition to Maduro, and after months of hiding in the suburbs of Caracas. The goal was to reach the island of Curaçao and, from there, fly to Norway.
Machado wore a heavy jacket and a dark baseball cap. Their companions on the boat held up their cell phone lights for Stern’s rescue boat to find them.
It is no surprise that Machado called his departure from Venezuela a “miracle” upon his arrival in Oslo. For three hours, according to the New York newspaper, Machado drifted in the Caribbean. His GPS had fallen overboard amid heavy waves and the replacement device did not work. They did not arrive at the meeting point agreed with Stern and got lost.
After the meeting, it was Stern himself who took Machado out of the boat and gave him an isotonic drink, some food and a dry sweater. Machado immediately sent a video to US authorities to prove she was safely on her way to Curaçao: “My name is María Corina Machado. “I am alive, safe and very grateful.”
Stern called Machado’s extraction Operation Golden Dynamite, a nod to the founder of the Nobel Prizes. Alfred Nobelwho made his fortune with the invention of this explosive.
On the way to Norway
The journey began when Machado came out of hiding, hidden in a wig and costume. They took her to a coastal town, where a modest fishing boat awaited her, chosen to prevent the American army from confusing it with the large-capacity drug boats it has been attacking since early September.
But this boat had mechanical problems. And instead of leaving Tuesday at dawn as planned, they had to leave almost at the end of the day. The delay, difficult sea conditions and loss of GPS prevented Machado from arriving to collect his prize. Instead, his daughter received it, Ana Corina Sosawho read a speech on his behalf.
Stern assured that the operation was carried out in constant contact with the American military authorities. He kept them informed of details, shared his location and even asked for their help in locating Machado when he was adrift and lost communication with her.
He also confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that the operation was financed by private donors, without money from the US government, and that his team had planned up to nine possible scenarios for Machado’s extraction: from a helicopter rescue to fleeing across the Colombian or Guyanese border. They also spread false rumors about Machado’s participation in the ceremony in Oslo.
According to Stern, he had no collaboration from members of the Venezuelan government or military. But that doesn’t preclude the possibility that some might cooperate in Machado’s departure, either voluntarily or because of outright errors in monitoring the activist.
The big difficulty was Machado’s fame. “Everyone knows his face. “Moving Maria is like moving Hillary Clinton,” Stern added. But once evacuated from Venezuela and rescued from the sea, Machado was safe. Stern assured that on the way to the Caribbean island, he mainly talked about his daughter, whom he had not seen for two years.
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