Navy Adm. Alvin Holsey, the commander overseeing US navy operations towards suspected Venezuelan drug smugglers within the Caribbean Sea, will retire on the finish of the yr, Conflict Secretary Pete Hegseth introduced Thursday.
Holsey, 60, has led US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) for lower than a yr, and his departure comes as a number of Navy ships and hundreds of troops have deployed to the area as a part of President Trump’s huge operation to counter narcoterrorist teams allegedly led by Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
“On behalf of the Division of Conflict, we lengthen our deepest gratitude to Admiral Alvin Holsey for his greater than 37 years of distinguished service to our nation as he plans to retire at yr’s finish,” Hegseth wrote on X.
The Pentagon chief mentioned Holsey “has exemplified the very best requirements of naval management since his commissioning by means of the NROTC program at Morehouse School in 1988” and “demonstrated unwavering dedication to mission, folks, and nation.”
“His tenure as Navy Deputy Commander and now Commander of United States Southern Command displays a legacy of operational excellence and strategic imaginative and prescient,” Hegseth added. “The Division thanks Admiral Holsey for his a long time of service to our nation, and we want him and his household continued success and success within the years forward.”
US forces have used missile strikes to explode no less than 5 suspected drug smuggling boats off the Venezuelan coast since September.
Greater than two dozen suspected narcoterrorists have been killed within the airstrikes.
Holsey had reportedly raised issues concerning the assaults previous to Hegseth’s announcement, in response to the New York Instances, citing a US official.
The Pentagon has deployed some 10,000 US troops – to Puerto Rico and aboard ships – in assist of the counter-narcotics operation, in response to a number of stories.
Eight Navy warships, a nuclear-powered submarine and F-35 fighter jets are additionally within the area in assist of the mission.
Flight monitoring web sites additionally noticed B-52 bombers flying close to the Venezuelan coast on Wednesday, in an obvious present of drive.
President Trump mentioned Wednesday that he’s contemplating concentrating on the Venezuela-based drug cartels on land, as properly.
“We’re definitely taking a look at land now as a result of we’ve acquired the ocean below management,” Trump instructed reporters within the Oval Workplace.
“A number of Venezuelan medication are available in by means of the ocean. So that you get to see that, however we’re going to cease them by land additionally.”
Holsey’s retirement is the newest in a string of high-profile navy departures.
Hegseth ousted former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers C.Q. Brown and former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti earlier this yr, and urged he might take away extra prime leaders as a part of an effort to vary the “tradition” within the armed forces.
“As you will have seen and the media has obsessed over, I’ve fired various senior officers since taking up,” Hegseth mentioned at un unprecedented gathering of navy leaders in Quantico, Va., final month. . “The earlier chairman, different members of the Joint Chiefs [of Staff], combatant commanders and different commanders.”
“The rationale for me has been simple: It’s practically unattainable to vary a tradition with the identical individuals who helped create and even benefited from that tradition, even when that tradition was created by a earlier president and former secretary.”
