María Corina Machado Suffered Vertebral Fracture During Escape to Oslo, Spokesperson Confirms

Norwegian reporting traces the injury to a rough fishing-boat crossing overseen by a U.S. private rescue team.

Overview

Machado’s spokesperson cited Aftenposten in confirming she fractured a vertebra during her clandestine departure from Venezuela.
Doctors at Oslo’s Ullevål University Hospital identified multiple injuries, including the vertebral fracture, after she reached Norway.
The extraction was led by Bryan Stern’s U.S. nonprofit and involved a disguise, passage through 10 military checkpoints, a fishing-boat leg to Curaçao, and subsequent flights.
After her GPS failed on the water, she drifted for hours before being located and moved to a larger boat, with the rescue lead requesting U.S. military help to find her.
Organizers say private donors financed the mission, while reports say U.S. officials monitored it in real time, and Machado later acknowledged receiving help from the U.S. government.