In a story that reads more like a thriller than a diplomatic dispatch, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado emerged from nearly a year of hiding to collect the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, on December 11, 2025. Her arrival in the Norwegian capital marked the first time she had been seen in public since January, capping a high-stakes escape that involved disguises, rough seas, and international intrigue.
Machado, 58, had spent more than a year evading Venezuelan authorities after being barred from running in the 2024 presidential election—despite winning the opposition's primary by a landslide. With the regime of President Nicolás Maduro tightening its grip and expanding arrests of opposition figures, Machado went underground in August 2024. She sent her children into exile for their safety, not seeing them for almost a year.
Her escape from Venezuela was nothing short of cinematic. According to The Wall Street Journal and corroborated by FRANCE 24, Machado slipped through ten military checkpoints, donning a wig and disguise to avoid detection. She made her way to a coastal fishing village, where she boarded a small skiff bound for the Caribbean island of Curaçao. The journey was fraught with peril: during the crossing, the crew’s GPS was lost overboard in rough seas, leaving them adrift and missing their extraction point. “There were moments when I felt that there was a real risk to my life, and it was also a very spiritual moment because, in the end, I simply felt that I was in God’s hands and that whatever would be, would be,” Machado told reporters in Oslo, as cited by FRANCE 24.
The operation to get her out was orchestrated by Grey Bull Rescue, a Tampa-based group led by U.S. combat veteran Bryan Stern. Stern, whose company has conducted hundreds of extractions since its founding after the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, described Machado’s rescue as uniquely challenging due to her high profile. “All of our infrastructure is designed for nobodies, and Maria is a somebody,” Stern told The New York Times. “The challenge with this operation was her.” The team had to coordinate with U.S. authorities to ensure their boat wasn’t mistaken for a drug-running vessel and targeted by military strikes, given the Trump administration’s aggressive operations in the region.
Indeed, the broader geopolitical backdrop was tense. On the same evening Machado made her escape, U.S. forces seized an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast—a move that marked a sharp escalation in Washington’s pressure campaign against Maduro. The Trump administration had carried out more than 20 military strikes in recent months against suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and along Latin America’s Pacific coast, operations that have reportedly killed more than 80 people, according to the Associated Press. While the White House framed these actions as efforts to curb the flow of drugs into the United States, critics—including some in Congress and analysts—saw them as part of a broader attempt to undermine Maduro’s hold on power.
Machado herself credited these “decisive” U.S. actions, including the oil tanker seizure, for weakening the Venezuelan regime. “The actions of President Donald Trump have been decisive to reach where we are now, where the regime is significantly weaker,” she told reporters in Oslo. “Because before, the regime thought it had impunity… Now they start to understand that this is serious, and that the world is watching.” She dedicated part of her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump, who had publicly claimed he deserved the honor for his stance against Maduro.
Her journey was not without its harrowing moments. The boat she traveled on, operated by Grey Bull Rescue, was left drifting in the Gulf of Venezuela after the loss of their navigation equipment. “We were scared the entire time,” Stern recounted to FRANCE 24. The rescue team eventually located Machado and ferried her to safety—an arduous 13 to 14-hour journey at sea—before she boarded a private jet to Norway. Flight tracking data showed her plane departed from Bangor, Maine, before landing in Oslo.
Machado arrived in Norway too late for the Nobel ceremony itself. In her absence, her daughter Ana Corina Sosa Machado accepted the prize on her behalf and delivered a speech penned by her mother. The speech emphasized the need for democracies to be prepared to fight for freedom if they are to survive. “I came to receive the prize on behalf of the Venezuelan people, and I will take it back to Venezuela at the correct moment,” Machado later told reporters, dressed in a white suit as she waved to supporters gathered outside Oslo’s Grand Hotel. Cheering crowds greeted her with chants of “Maria! Maria!” and “Freedom! Freedom!” Some sang Venezuela’s national anthem, capturing the emotional weight of the moment.
Despite the celebration, Machado remained cautious about her next steps. She declined to specify when she would return to Venezuela, citing security concerns and the need to protect those who helped her escape. “Of course I will not say when that is,” she remarked, but she made clear her intention to continue fighting for democracy in her homeland. Her daughter echoed this determination, telling FRANCE 24, “I trust and I know that we are on the brink of freedom.”
Machado’s public reemergence comes at a critical juncture for Venezuela. The country’s protracted crisis has seen widespread repression, disqualifications, arrests, and alleged human rights violations, particularly in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election. After being barred from running, Machado’s place was taken by retired diplomat Edmundo González, who later sought asylum in Spain following threats of arrest. The opposition’s promise to soon govern Venezuela has only fueled speculation about the future of Maduro’s regime and the country’s path forward.
Asked about the possibility of U.S. military intervention to remove Maduro, Machado sidestepped the question, instead highlighting the presence of Russian agents, criminal gangs, and Hezbollah operatives in Venezuela. “My country is already invaded,” she told reporters in Oslo, underscoring the complexity of the crisis.
Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre received Machado in Oslo, reiterating his country’s readiness to support a democratic transition in Venezuela and help build new institutions. Machado, for her part, called on democratic nations to go beyond statements and take concrete action to support the Venezuelan opposition. “It’s not a matter of statements, as you say, it’s a matter of action,” she insisted.
As Machado celebrated her hard-won freedom in Oslo, she made it clear that her journey was far from over. “We decided to fight until the end and Venezuela will be free,” she declared. Whether she will return to her homeland openly or once again slip into the shadows remains to be seen, but her message—and her daring escape—have undoubtedly galvanized supporters and drawn renewed international attention to Venezuela’s ongoing struggle for democracy.
