(CNN) — The admiral overseeing US Southern Command, which has responsibility for forces in the Caribbean, where the US has carried out multiple legally ambiguous strikes against alleged drug cartels, is retiring one year into his tenure, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a social media post on X on Thursday.

The news comes just days after the US military conducted its fifth known strike on a boat alleged to be trafficking drugs off the coast of Venezuela, killing six people. It also comes one day after President Donald Trump said publicly that he had authorized the CIA to operate inside Venezuela to clamp down on the flow of drugs and migrants. Also on Wednesday, US Air Force B-52 bombers flew off the coast of Venezuela for more than four hours, CNN previously reported.

The reason b

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