The leader of the Venezuelan opposition, María Corina Machado, is in Oslo. Her arrival was shrouded in mystery and uncertainty due to the complications involved in emerging from hiding to receive the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize in Norway.
According to what she herself has revealed, it was a collaborative effort by several men and women that enabled her to leave the country, where she is being persecuted, and arrive safely in Europe. In this regard, more details of what was a successful operation are gradually being revealed.
New details of María Corina Machado's escape
The Wall Street Journal reported that María Corina Machado's escape plan had been in the works for at least two months. The opposition leader, who has been sanctioned by the Nicolás Maduro regime, worked with her team to ensure her departure from hiding went off without a hitch.
The exit route was via Curaçao. Aboard a speedboat, the Venezuelan woman set off for the small island where she boarded a plane bound for the Norwegian capital. However, leaving her country by that route represented a risk not only of being found by the regime, but also of being seen as a military target amidst the operations being carried out by the U.S. in the Latin American Caribbean.
Therefore, during the time the operation was planned, members of his team maintained communication with the White House to coordinate the escort and support for the boat in which he traveled.
Before boarding the vessel, the Venezuelan opposition leader had to put on a wig and a disguise in order to evade ten military checkpoints. After a journey by land, she reached her destination before leaving the country.
As a result, they determined a specific area of the Venezuelan coast to depart from. During their journey, two US Navy F-18 fighter jets circled the Gulf of Venezuela for 40 minutes to ensure their safety.
After crossing the Caribbean Sea and arriving on the island, less than 80 kilometers from his country, he boarded a plane and successfully completed an operation that represented his first public appearance since going underground.
After arriving in Oslo, Machado reunited with her children and then left the hotel where she is staying to greet Venezuelans who were eagerly awaiting her arrival. On the morning of December 11, she held two press conferences in which she spoke about her purpose after receiving the Nobel Prize.
In the same interview, she confirmed the support she received from the US government, whom she thanked for helping her in her goal of reaching Europe.
Now, as he mentioned, he hopes to return to Venezuela. For that, another rigorous operation will be necessary to allow him to enter in the safest way possible. The route he used to leave the country has been requested by several opposition members in the past, who have even had the support of people within the regime's leadership.
For now, no further details are known about how the operation was carried out or who participated. The woman has expressed her gratitude to the people whose identities she did not reveal for security reasons.
