The news broke that Maria Corina Machado was extracted from Venezuela in a secret exfiltration that involved ground and sea movement. A Florida-based private firm with experience in exfiltrating Americans and others from conflict zones has announced that it played a key role in the secret operation.
Maria Corina Machado, age 58, is a resistance leader of Venezuela who is a political foe of the current regime led by President Nicolas Maduro. She was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize but could not attend the ceremony held on Wednesday, December 10, 2025 held in Olso, Norway. Her daughter received the award on her behalf. However, she did arrive in Oslo Thursday, the day after the award ceremony. With her arrival in Norway, Machado was reunited with her family for the first time in two years. She had been living in hiding in Venezuela for almost a year due to fear of reprisals by Maduro. She has been in hiding since January 2025.
An American ‘rescue team’ says it helped manage her escape from Venezuela and make her way to Norway. Much of the escape involved transiting through checkpoints in Venezuela and then many hours in rough seas that included a boat-to-boat transfer. Bryan Stern, an American citizen who heads up the Grey Bull Rescue Foundation, reportedly led some aspects of the operation. It has been reported that the private firm was involved in the land and sea portion of the extraction operation. It is not known (at this time) who arranged for the flight to Norway. Machado has stated that the U.S. government assisted in her arrival in Norway.
The land movement involved Machado wearing a disguise and passing through roughly ten road checkpoints. This 10-hour road trip was likely the most dangerous part of the journey. The land movement ended at a coastal fishing village. The sea movement, described as taking place overnight in rough waters in a wooden fishing vessel, was probably a rough trip as well. Stern has stated that the rescue was not funded by the U.S. government and that it was not part of an official government tasking. She was taken by boat to Curacao (map NSI) – a small Dutch island in the Caribbean Sea close to the Venezuela coast. The air movement of her trip was by a private executive flight most likely conducted by a firm based in Florida. Some news reports indicated that the private jet refueled in Bangor, Maine.
The planning phase of the operation was condensed – a short four days. Although Grey Bull Rescue has been setting up for weeks (perhaps months) for a Venezuela crisis, the planning phase for this extraction was only four days long. There was some coordination done with U.S. government agencies to ensure that the extraction boat was not targeted as a narco boat. The operation was not financed by the U.S. government.
Stern said the operation was funded by a few generous donors. The operation to extract Machado was named Operation Golden Dynamite. It is believed that the operation began on Monday or Tuesday, December 8 or 9. The trip was an attempt to get to Oslo in time for the ceremony to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. However, bad weather affected the extraction timeline.
After the operation Bryan Stern said: (1)
“No one’s blood pressure was low . . . it was dangerous. It was scary. The sea conditions were ideal for us, but certainly not water that you would want to be on.“
Bryan Stern has been actively engaged in humanitarian situations – most notably during the Afghan Evac in August 2021, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the advent of the Sudan Civil War, and the recent Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica in 2025. Prior to leading Grey Bull Rescue he was the head of Project DYNAMO; serving as the founder and CEO.
The situation between the United States and Venezuela has become increasingly tense with the U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean. There is an effort on the United States to force the current leader of Venezuela to leave the country. At the moment, there are about 30,000 U.S. citizens who are in Venezuela. Grey Bull Rescue is currently active in the Caribbean Sea region and has activated an operation it is calling “LATIN SHIELD” – which is staging air, land, and sea evacuation routes in the Caribbean and South America. (2)
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Footnotes:
(1) Grey Bull Rescue, X.com, 11 Dec 2025. https://x.com/greybullrescue/status/1999239157831418184
(2) “Tampa-based Grey Bull Rescue readies rapid response for potential U.S. military action in Venezuela”, Tampa Bay 28, December 2, 2025.
Maps: CIA
