U.S. Southern Command, which oversees military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, is in turmoil after the announcement of the sudden retirement of the four-star Navy admiral overseeing that region where President Donald Trump is waging an undeclared war on supposed drug smugglers.

The discontent came to a head after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced that Adm. Alvin Holsey would step down at the end of the year, two years ahead of schedule, one government official told The Intercept. “People are angry,” the official said. Another said some in key positions at SOUTHCOM were “disillusioned.” They were among three government officials with knowledge of strife at the combatant command who spoke to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity.

Holsey has not commented publicly on the reasons for his premature departure. This has led to speculation by officials at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill that he may have questioned the legality or ethics of Trump’s attacks in the waters near Venezuela; have been upset about being forced into a subservient role in Trump’s war as Special Operations Command usurped his authority; or was pushed out as part of Hegseth’s much-publicized anti-diversity campaign.

“Adm. Holsey is not available for interviews at this time,” Col. Emanuel Ortiz, Southern Command’s chief of public affairs, told The Intercept. In response to questions about Holsey’s impending departure and reports of strife at the command, spokesperson Lt. Col. Dustin Cammack said, “SOUTHCOM has nothing additional to add.” He referred questions about Southern Command to the White House.

The White House did not respond to repeated requests for answers.

The United States has launched attacks on at least seven boats in the Caribbean since September, reportedly killing 32 people. On Wednesday, Hegseth announced strikes on two boats in the Pacific that left five people dead. The first strike took place on Tuesday and killed two people, he said. A second strike took place on Wednesday, killing three others.

On Wednesday, Trump teased the possibility of similar strikes on land. “We will hit them very hard when they come in by land,” said the president. “We’ll probably go back to Congress and explain exactly what we’re doing when [they] come to the land.”

Although these strikes are being conducted in SOUTHCOM’s area of operations, they have been carried out by elite Special Operations forces from Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, which is headed — as of earlier this month — by U.S. Navy Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley.

The attacks on boats are part of a war being waged by the Trump administration without the consent of Congress, according to a confidential notice that was sent to several congressional committees earlier this month. Legal experts — including former government lawyers who specialized in determinations regarding the laws of war and extrajudicial killings — and lawmakers say the strikes violate U.S. and international law.

Last week, Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Tim Kaine, D-Va.; and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., introduced a War Powers Resolution that would block the military from engaging in hostilities within or against Venezuela, after Trump confirmed that he secretly authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in that country and threatened attacks on Venezuelan territory.

“It’s summary execution!”

“We don’t blow up boats off Miami because 25 percent of the time suspicion is wrong. We shouldn’t do it off Venezuela either. These are small outboards with no fentanyl and no path to Florida,” Paul told The Intercept. “We can’t just kill indiscriminately because we are not at war. It’s summary execution! Everyone gets a trial because sometimes the system gets it wrong. Even the worst of the worst in our country get due process.........

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