US group rescues “Most wanted woman”

Seems there was a bit of unannounced drama associated with the Nobel Peace Prize presentation in October.

As we know, the prize went to the leader of Venezuela’s opposition, Marina Corina Machado.  She herself was unable to attend at the time. The lady is very much in demand with Venezuela’s Maduro regime – on about the scale that Osama bin Laden was with ours.  Let’s just say she is very much wanted,  or, as the center of today’s column Bryan Stern describes her:

“Now we are on the run with Maria Corina Machado, the most wanted woman in the Western Hemisphere, on my boat,” he said.

Mr. Stern is the CEO of the Grey Bull Rescue Group. A little promo for him from their site:

A multiple-tour combat veteran of the United States Army & Navy, courageous 9/11 first responder, and Purple Heart recipient. Bryan has over 25 years of military experience focused on special operations specializing in Hostage Rescue, Counter-Terrorism, Counter-Proliferation, Critical Technology Protection, and Unconventional Warfare. He is the Chairman and Founder of Grey Bull Rescue.

He is the sole U.S. Navy Officer inducted into the Order of Saint Maurice by the Chief of the U.S. Army Infantry. Bryan is also a Knowlton Award and Nimitz Award recipient for his contributions to military intelligence and leadership.

The story goes that Mr. Stern saw the plight of Afghans fleeing the Taliban and thought setting up a group to help out folks like that was a good idea – hence Grey Bull. Back to the Machado operation:

In order to move her from her house to a “beach landing site,” his team reportedly did “all kinds of things designed to create a little bit of confusion.”

“Anything that we could have possibly think of that we thought could hide her face … was employed.” Stern said. “Anything we could think of, her digital signature, her physical signature. On top of that, we did some deception operations on the ground. We made some noise in some places designed to get people to think something was happening that wasn’t.”

The maritime operation started off rough, Stern recounted. Of the two boats deployed for the mission, the vessel that physically extracted Machado reportedly lost its GPS in the turbulent seas and suffered a mechanical hiccup that delayed the operation. The team was forced to continue into the “dead of night” in “pitch-black darkness,” navigating seas so violent that one of Stern’s seasoned operators reportedly vomited for nine hours straight.

Reaching the rendezvous point added another layer of difficulty. Stern’s boat and Machado’s vessel had to find each other in pitch-black seas while maintaining radio silence to avoid detection, ultimately locating one another by flashlight.

“I have the most wanted person in the Western hemisphere that I’m trying to move around,” Stern said. “Personally, she’s a hero of mine. She’s a hero of mine. I’ve been tracking her for years.”

Once in international waters, the new concern was avoiding any appearance that they had kidnapped a Venezuelan, which would have given the government any justification to attack.

At one point they were circled by two FA-18s. Given that we have a recent track record of sinking drug boats, I imagine this was a nervous moment. At least they knew the jets weren’t Venezuelan – they use F-16s and Russian Sus.

The maritime team successfully delivered Machado to safety. Stern said his team had also prepared for a possible air extraction, but that plan was abandoned after a last-minute change on Machado’s side. Instead, the final flight to Norway was arranged by her personal network using a friend’s private jet, culminating in her safe arrival.  Fox News

Reads like a Larry Bond or Tom Clancy thriller. It should be noted that Machado was able to get her prize, but after she successfully arrived in Oslo.

Category: International Affairs, Navy