In the dead of night, on rough seas and without any government backing, a small team executed what its commander described as one of the most significant extractions of a political figure in decades: the covert removal of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado from her country.
The man behind the operation was Bryan Stern, founder and chairman of the humanitarian extraction group Grey Bull Rescue. In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Stern detailed how a frantic phone call a week and a half ago, on Friday night, set in motion a four-day operation that ended with Machado safely out of Venezuela and later reunited with her daughter in Norway.
“I was literally on a plane, flying back from Aruba, when I got the call,” Stern recalled. An old colleague from government service, now retired, reached out with an urgent request. A third party from Machado’s inner circle needed help — fast. At first, Stern said, her name was not mentioned, but “within two minutes it was obvious who they were talking about.”
That realization changed everything. Machado, widely seen as the most prominent challenger to President Nicolás Maduro and recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, had become “the most hunted person in the Western Hemisphere,” according to Stern.
Grey Bull Rescue is no stranger to danger. Over the past four years, the organization has carried out hundreds of missions. Its resume includes rescues connected to Israel following October 7, operations during the Iran conflict earlier this year, hostage-related missions linked to Gaza, and even jailbreaks in Russia. Still, Stern noted, Machado was the first person his team had ever rescued who had a Wikipedia page.
From first contact to completion, the entire operation took less than four days.
“We got the call Friday night at 9 p.m. Saturday, we planned. Sunday, we moved pieces on the chessboard. My team deployed to the Caribbean. We initiated on Tuesday and finished Tuesday night,” Stern said. “That’s it.”
Grey Bull Rescue, which operates entirely on donations, conducted the mission without financial or operational assistance from any state actor. “Completely unilateral,” Stern emphasized.
Beating checkpoints and signatures
Some details of how Machado was moved through Venezuela remain classified. Stern declined to describe specific tactics, citing ongoing operations and security concerns.
“What I can say is that we understand threats in ways most people don’t; physical signatures, electronic signatures,” he said. “We defeat checkpoints all over the world every month. It’s hard, but it’s what we do.”
Machado traveled undercover, passing through multiple layers of regime control. “At any moment we could have been detected or killed,” Stern said. “You only know you were secure because you’re still alive.”
The extraction culminated offshore, in treacherous conditions. Two boats met in five- to ten-foot seas, in complete darkness, communicating only by flashlight.
“It was very dangerous. Very wet. Everyone was soaked,” Stern said. “But then I yelled, ‘Maria, Maria,’ and she answered, ‘It’s me, Maria.’ That moment was incredible.”
While rough seas caused navigation challenges and one boat temporarily lost GPS capability, Stern said redundancies and calm execution prevented panic. “This is normal in these operations. We plan for contingencies.”
Asked if there was a moment he thought the mission might fail, Stern’s answer was blunt: “Every moment.”
“I was afraid every single minute until I saw her hug her daughter in Norway,” he said, referring to Machado’s eventual arrival in Europe.
Stern described the mission as the largest and highest-value extraction of a political figure in decades. “The Maduro regime spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to find her. Thousands of intelligence officers were looking for her.”
That Grey Bull Rescue succeeded without government help, Stern said, and that it was a testament to his team’s expertise, and to Machado’s courage. Still, he downplayed the operation’s mystique.
“Tactically speaking, this was actually pretty straightforward,” he said. “We’ve done harder things. We’re only talking about this because it’s Maria Corina Machado.”
Grey Bull Rescue is a donor-funded nonprofit. “A donation can literally change the world,” Stern said.
For Machado, the operation meant freedom and survival. For Stern and his team, it was another mission completed, albeit one that may reshape Venezuela’s political future.