Venezuelan opposition leader makes harrowing journey to receive Nobel Peace Prize

Amna Nawaz:

Novel peace laureate Maria Corina Machado today vowed to continue her political pursuit to create democracy in Venezuela.

This week, after a year-and-a-half isolated and alone, she braved an arduous journey to accept the Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway.

Nick Schifrin speaks now with the man who helped her escape a Venezuelan government that's been hunting her for a year-and-a-half.

Nick Schifrin:

An icon and an iconic moment, Maria Corina Machado isolated and in hiding for more than a year, reaching for and embraced by supporters this week in Oslo, hugs for someone who says she hasn't been hugged for 16 months.

Her journey from solitude to overwhelming support risked her life and the lives of an entire team.

How difficult was it to extract her from Venezuela and get her to Oslo?

Bryan Stern, Grey Bull Rescue:

On a scale of one to 10, it was about 106.

Nick Schifrin:

Bryan Stern is an Army and Navy veteran and chairman and founder of Grey Bull Rescue, who organized her extraction.

Bryan Stern:

We have broken people out of jail from Russia. We have done hostages from Gaza. We have done all kinds of things. But the reality is, is, we have never extracted someone, rescued someone or evacuated someone that has a Wikipedia page.

Nick Schifrin:

The first challenge, moving Venezuela's most famous woman, who hasn't been seen in public since the middle of 2024.

Bryan Stern:

She's the second most popular person after Nicolas Maduro with billboards with her face on it. And she has rock star level status in the country. So, to mitigate that risk, lots of things were done to conceal her movement and her identity and her signature, both physically, digitally and in other ways.

Nick Schifrin:

That was the first step, getting her overland through military checkpoints from her hiding point to the coast.

Bryan Stern:

From there, she got on a boat. And that boat was not what most people think. It was a very small boat. In the dead of night, she embarked on boat one to rally point in the middle of the sea, where she was met by boat two also in the middle of the sea. The conditions were very rough, very cold, very wet, not fun at all.

Nick Schifrin:

Stern says that more than 150-mile journey was the most dangerous from the Venezuelan coast to the Dutch island Curacao. Throughout, he stayed in touch with the U.S. military, which has been targeting boats in the Caribbean.

Bryan Stern:

I lifted her from boat one into boat two personally with my own hands. She was amazing in every way. She was already my hero, and now she's more so. We talked about her family. And she was so excited to see her children for the first time in two years and things like that. So, yes, she's an international figure and all those things, but she's also a mom.

Ana Corina Sosa Machado, Daughter of Maria Corina Machado: I am here on behalf of my mother.

Nick Schifrin:

A mother of three, including Ana Corina Sosa, who accepted her mother's Nobel Peace Prize. She and the entire family sacrificed to get to this day.

Maria Corina Machado Venezuela Opposition Leader:

When she married, I wasn't with her. And my son just married, and I wasn't with him. So it gives me a big sense of guilt.

Nick Schifrin:

Machado spoke to the BBC in Oslo.

Maria Corina Machado:

For over 16 months, I haven't been able to hug or touch anyone. So it certainly has been a very profound sentiment suddenly in a matter of few hours to be able to see the people I love most. Leaving Venezuela today in these circumstances is very, very dangerous. So I just want to say today that I'm here because many men and women risked their lives in order for me to arrive in Oslo.

Nick Schifrin:

Was this a U.S. government mission?

Bryan Stern:

No, not at all. This was not a U.S. government mission. We have not been paid by the U.S. government. We haven't even gotten a thank-you note from the U.S. government.

Nick Schifrin:

But Maria Corina thanks them. And now, even though reunited with her family, she vows to return to Venezuela, although Stern isn't so sure.

Bryan Stern:

Maria and I spoke about this briefly, and I told her, don't go. The world needs her safe in one piece. There's no glory in being arrested and being a martyr. There's none.

But she's so resolute and so filled with passion for her people that she's unstoppable.

Nick Schifrin:

And whatever her next step may be to bring democracy to Venezuela, she will now take as a Nobel laureate.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.