Video of Machado’s daring escape from Venezuela released by rescue team

By Julian Zamora, Michael Rios, CNN

(CNN) — The US-based rescue team Grey Bull has released a short video showing how they helped Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado escape the country last month.

Machado left Venezuela in early December after almost a year in hiding so she could accept her Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. She boarded a boat from the Venezuelan coast and sailed to a rendezvous point in the Caribbean Sea. There, she was picked up by Grey Bull founder and special forces veteran Bryan Stern and his team, who were waiting for her on another boat.

The edited, two-minute video released Friday shows the moment Machado reached and boarded the second vessel in the middle of the night.

“That’s them, that’s them, that’s them,” Stern is heard saying as lights from Machado’s boat appear in the distance and approach his vessel.

After confirming Machado’s identity, Stern is heard helping her board his boat, though the exact moment of the transfer is barely visible due to the darkness of the night.

“Hi, María. My name is Bryan. Nice to meet you. I got you,” he says as she gets on.

“So wet and so cold,” she’s heard saying.

The video then cuts to Machado wearing a dark jacket and hat, speaking directly to the camera: “I am María Corina Machado. I’m alive. I’m safe and very grateful to Grey Bull.”

The video ends with various still images of Machado with Stern and his team. Stern’s voice is heard over the photos, confirming that they had reached her.

“Jackpot, jackpot, jackpot. Objective Golden Dynamite,” Stern says before indicating that they were on their way to Curaçao, an island near Venezuela.

Stern previously said that they reached the shore in the early morning after a long, cold and tense journey. From there, Machado boarded a plane bound for Norway, where she was due to accept her Nobel Prize and see her family.

Grey Bull said last month that the extraction mission lasted nearly 16 hours and was carried out largely in the middle of the night through rough waters. The rescue group conducts civilian extractions in many parts of the world. Led by Stern, it has carried out at least 800 operations.

Machado earlier on Friday declined to comment on the extraction operation, citing safety concerns for those involved.

CNN has reached out to her team for comment.

Machado previously told reporters that she received support from the US government but declined to provide details, saying, “One day I will be able to tell you, because certainly I don’t want to put them in risk right now.”

Stern said last month that the operation was funded by anonymous donors and – to his knowledge – was not supported by the US government, but he acknowledged that his team did communicate with the US military to make them aware of their presence at sea.

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