maria corina machado reappears in venezuela

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado got lost at sea when escaping the country aboard a wooden boat to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, according to a new report.

She and her companions drifted on a skiff in the Gulf of Venezuela after its GPS fell overboard, The Wall Street Journal noted. She didn't meet the extraction team at the designated point, leading them to scramble to find her in choppy waters.

It is yet the latest detail of her ordeal to reach Norway to get the prize. The U.S. special forces veteran who helped extract her, Bryan Stern, told CBS News on Thursday that the rough seas actually helped them evade detection.

He went on to say that "the higher the waves are, the harder "it is for radar to see." "No one's blood pressure was low, throughout any phase of this operation, including mine," he added.

Stern said the operation was among the hardest he has conducted, noting Machado has a "very large target on her back" considering she is being pursued by the Maduro regime. "This is not a random shopkeeper who doesn't wanna be in Venezuela anymore. This is moving around a rock star," he said.

Another report by the Wall Street Journal noted that Machado's team coordinated her escape with the U.S. partly to avoid being targeted by Washington forces as part of its pressure campaign against the Maduro regime.

"We coordinated that she was going to leave by a specific area so that they would not blow up the boat," a person close to the operation said. Around the same time, two Navy jets spent about 40 minutes flying in tight circles near the route, making it the closest incursion of U.S. aircraft in the Venezuelan airspace since the campaign began in September.

The escape began on Monday afternoon. She went from a suburb in Caracas, where she has been in hiding for a year, to a coastal fishing village.

To get there, she had to go through 10 military checkpoints before reaching her destination, where a boat awaited to sail her through the Caribbean and to Curaçao. Along with two companions, they endured choppy seas that slowed down their skiff.

Machado reached Curaçao and met a private contractor specialized in extractions. After spending a night in the country, Machado boarded an executive jet provided by a Miami associate and made it for Norway. She arrived after the award was given, with her daughter receiving it on her behalf.

Machado is set to spend a few days in Norway, then tour European countries to gather support for her cause, and will eventually make it to the U.S., according to a person close to her.

Originally published on Latin Times