In surprise move, head of US military for Latin America to step down - Reuters

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Basement_Chicken@reddit

He probably didn't want to "just follow orders". A noble way to disagree.

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Excellent_Set_232@reddit

Does this mean more aggression towards Venezuela in the future?

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It's nearly certain regime change in Venezuela. CIA covert operations were green lit today. The naval forces are in position. Once the scouting on the ground is complete, either the military will go in hot or we'll have a "police action" like we did in Cambodia and Vietnam. If that police action fails, then the military will go in hot. It all depends on how much "distraction" the U.S. regime needs to get people's minds off the Epstein files.

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ESPGTR@reddit

It's going to be a shit show. Venezuela has very advantageous terrain. This is the kind of stupid you would expect from the gaggle of idiotic reality TV morons in executive leadership

Idiocracy was a documentary

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theholyraptor@reddit

I can't wait to continue reading about Trump, the president of peace with no blood shed on his hands unlike Biden and Obama from his followers after this happens.

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jaimi_wanders@reddit

“Donald the Dove”… Fun fact #1, the NYT spent from fall of 1921 through fall of 1939 insisting that Hitler didn’t mean any of his violent rhetoric, right up to the tagline “Belligerence Not Expected” hours before his Oct 6 speech which was indeed filled with belligerence…

Fun fact #2, in 1985 Donald Trump gave an interview to author Ron Rosenbaum which was republished in March 2016 — two years before he went to Russia for the first time, and returned to attack all our alliances in a full-page NYT ad using the same grievance talk as his American Carnage inauguration speech— in which he attacked France for developing their own nuclear technology, said they should be punished— and that we should ally with Moscow instead to rule the world together in the name of “peace”…

Oh and that was when Roger Stone first started working as Trump’s PR guy and pushing him towards the White House, along with his partner Paul Manafort…who from 2005 until 2014 worked to put the pro-Russian Yanukovych into the Mariyinsky Palace in Kyiv, and keep him there with any amount of crooked dealings and ultimately lethal violence…which backfired in the face of Ukrainian pro-democracy protestors refusing to back down in defense of their constitution… so he came back to work on their original plan… and gave us Yankee Yanukovych instead.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2016/03/trumps-nuclear-experience.html#

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ESPGTR@reddit

You are doing excellent work. Please continue to let people know how absolutely compromised agent krasnov is

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ESPGTR@reddit

You're going to have to wait because his followers can't read or write

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Fr1toBand1to@reddit

Obligatory comment that President Camacho was actually a fabulous president for his time and place.

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ESPGTR@reddit

And fun fact about Camacho: not a pedo

Just saying

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Fr1toBand1to@reddit

Examine all the AI photos trump as put out there. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (that mediocrity can pay to greatness.)

Just saying

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Aromatic_Balls@reddit

Also add cheap drones to the mix and we have a lot of dead/wounded American soldiers all for some dementia patient's fragile ego. Glad I didn't re-up in 2016 when he got elected the first time.

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SlaterVBenedict@reddit

…what’s your source on CIA “covert operations” being greenlit?

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Zealousideal-Plum823@reddit

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-confirms-authorized-cia-action-venezuela-rcna237880

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0ex1jq9pdvo

https://www.npr.org/2025/10/16/g-s1-93677/trump-confirms-cia-operations-venezuela

Honestly, there are so many, many credible sources on this. I'm stopping at just these three.

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SlaterVBenedict@reddit

You’re saying that these public reports are of covert operations?

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AnnetteBishop@reddit

It would take a lot more than the naval forces in position to kinetically enact regime change. Compare contrast the amount of ground troops present before Iraq in 91 and 2003 to the MEF present now.

In fairness, if you secure an airfield you could bring in a ton directly from the US in theory, but that is properly dicey, as Russia's failed initial plan for Ukraine showed.

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Zealousideal-Plum823@reddit

"No plan survives first contact with the enemy."

If I had to guess, a half-baked plan that has zero chance at success to take Venezuela was being forced on Holsey and he said "hell no! ... not on my watch" Some words were then exchanged and Holsey said "Peace Out"

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Bimitenpix@reddit

I honestly just assume they let chatgtp write up all their military plans nowadays

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RussiaIsBestGreen@reddit

That’s a great question! So first, Venezuela has been under sanctions for years and has a weak economy. Lots of polling shows support for the opposition. Much like in Iraq, the US will be greeted as liberators and welcomed with open arms and a quick victory. Some analysis shows that this war could be finished in less than a week.

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AnnetteBishop@reddit

That's a fair guess as any. Would think anyone who leads Southcom remembers the lessons of the Bay of Pigs.

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HotPotParrot@reddit

One would think, but one is consistently proven wrong in that regard when it comes to this regime

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itsavibe-@reddit

I’d be surprised if they even contacted him about these operations…

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platyponius@reddit

I think the playbook here will again be harassment, brinksmanship, influence operations, and economic warfare. As opposed to an Iraq-like invasion. This administration has shown that it doesn't like to get tied down to action or policy (except its own personal interests).

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fragrant-final-973@reddit

think the playbook here will again be harassment, brinksmanship, influence operations, and economic warfare.

Yup, that's exactly what's happening here...

Oh wait, this thread is about Venezuela. 😬

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platyponius@reddit

lol exactly, hence the keyword "again"

fungible conflicts

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418Miner@reddit

who is dumb enough to publicly green light covert operations?

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PitifulMoment9717@reddit

And who do they want to put I power, let me guess? The noble peace prize winner that supports Trump?

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Biotic101@reddit

1984 coming to mind.

And it's not the only Sci-Fi coming true lately.

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Effective-Ebb-2805@reddit

Absolutely. Perhaps an invasion... and our very own Vietnam War.

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Over-Elk-2363@reddit

In Vietnam, the Communists had overwhelming popular support which enabled them to fight off multiple empires. I don't think that's true of Venezuela. The worst case for Venezuela is a power vacuum fought over by multiple competing warlords, like in Libya.

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Effective-Ebb-2805@reddit

It would be, in technical terms, what military professionals call a "gigantic clusterf@ck". Lots of different groups fighting for different reasons...each other, US forces... Plus, it would destabilize the hell out of the whole continent. Borders mean nothing to guerrilla groups that have been fighting in the jungle for generations.

This is all without mentioning what it would do internally to the US. A country already in political turmoil... we don't even have a fully operational federal government right now. The economy has kept its trajectory...going to shit... What could possibly go wrong?

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Over-Elk-2363@reddit

Borders mean nothing to guerrilla groups that have been fighting in the jungle for generations.

The old style, Soviet backed guerrillas of the 20th century are largely a thing of the past, and South American borders are remarkably well-defined by dramatic natural geographicy (the Andes, the Darién Gap, etc). A Machado government could probably muster the strength to deal with the remnants of FARC raiding from Colombia, or what are you suggesting?

>This is all without mentioning what it would do internally to the US.

The US doesn't need an Afghanistan-style boots on the ground invasion to topple Maduro. What did the Guatemala coup do internally to the US? Syria? And in both of those places, there was a powerful foreign rival to the US also playing their cards, which isn't true of Venezuela.

>Plus, it would destabilize the hell out of the whole continent.

It depends. The current regime has taken a toll on neighboring countries via the refugee crisis - Venezuelans are becoming disliked in Chile and other countries they've mass migrated to. It's not like Maduro and Chavez have been stabilizing forces in South America.

The question is whether Machado (and her US backers) are capable of quickly building a stable new regime in Venezuela. Which, lol, doubt it. But that also doesn't guarantee that they'll do worse than the existing regime, to assume so is catastrophizing imo.

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Lard_Baron@reddit

Wartime presidents win elections.

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InfoSec_Intensifies@reddit

It likely means more aggression against civilians without conclusive evidence.

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MariachiDan@reddit

Alot more Venezuelan fishermen are about to be bombed.

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ZeroKuhl@reddit

Dear leader spoke to his boss yesterday.

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Ebella2323@reddit

¿Por que no los dos?

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InfoSec_Intensifies@reddit

Sure, why not both with a bonus US extreme belligerence in the region for all!

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Ebella2323@reddit

Sí

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keep_living_or_else@reddit

Look at Libya, and imagine a similar end game but with way more stupidity and unilateral action on the U.S. side that's condemned internationally and further signals an era of global chaos for non-aligned nations.

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mwa12345@reddit

And we lied to get others on board on Libya. Created a failed state there and caused more refugees into Europe.

Venezuela would be even worse than that if it fails

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PilgrimOz@reddit

I reckon 100%. Probably already been asked to plan. So he planned his way out.

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forkproof2500@reddit

If this goes ahead Maduro needs to come seriously gloves off against fifth columnists in his country. I don't understand what kind of a dictatorship this even is, how are any of these people free to roam and conduct business freely?

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lt1brunt@reddit

He was like no ICC warrants for me.

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Final-Tumbleweed1335@reddit

He is someone with integrity.

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platyponius@reddit

At the same time, he was someone who could have made a difference.

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BB123-@reddit

You don’t make differences in the military. You either follow orders or you have to resign as an officer. If he disagreed with his orders from his commanding officer and did not execute them because of his disagreement to the orders then he would be in military jail. (Unlike civilian jail) so instead he resigned. So that should tell you one of two things. Either he disagreed with the orders, or he had a real health issue and couldn’t maintain military effectiveness. This is not like the civilian world .

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platyponius@reddit

Buddy, back in the day we used to frag officers.

This officer could have fragged companies.

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HommeMusical@reddit

You either follow orders or you have to resign as an officer.

On the contrary: the law says that if you obey an illegal order, you are legally culpable for breaking the law.

Soldiers have not just the right but the duty to refuse illegal orders.

They need to be particularly reminded of that these days. Your false comment is particularly unhelpful.

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BB123-@reddit

The resignation symbolizes that you will not follow orders that go against your moral principles, does make sense? I’m not looking to argue with you. Military law is different from US law Furthermore the navy also operates in areas where Maritime law is applicable.

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HommeMusical@reddit

Sorry for being grumpy, i re-edited my comment.

Military personnel do have the right and duty to refuse to obey illegal commands without resigning.

Resigning rather than obeying an order you believe to be illegal or that is against your conscience - or in anticipation of such orders in future - is another option, but do note that are significant limits on whether or when that is even possible; you nearly always need permission to leave the military in such cases, if you're a conscript or there's a war on then you won't get it, and on the battlefield, you can legally be shot for trying to do that.

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ArtieJay@reddit

And if they refuse, do they get to remain in their position? Genuinely curious on the case law.

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HommeMusical@reddit

"It's complicated" but generally you as the soldier are in a very bad position (note: not a lawyer nor ex-military but well-read).

If you are in battle, the CO has the right to shoot you then and there for dereliction and the worst that will happen to him is that his action will be reversed and your memory cleared, he won't get punished.

It very likely ends your career and perhaps there's a court martial, even if the facts are very much in your favor.

On the other side, if the law ever started to be enforced again, then soldiers who followed orders and committed war crimes would be entirely legally responsible for their own acts. Since the military barely ever held troops to account before, even for the most gross war crimes, it's hard to imagine that this is any deterrent to people.

America is basically relying on people's consciences and respect for the law here. What a thin thread on which to hang a democracy.

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HommeMusical@reddit

Under his command, the US has been blowing up boats in international waters, based on unproven accusations that these are drug boats - and even if they were, that doesn't give anyone the right to simply kill these people.

This is against international law and US law.

This man is a war criminal and an accessory to murder. He has less than no integrity.

I assume the reason he's checking out now is because he wants to avoid legal consequences for the escalation from "war crimes around the edges" to the American holocaust that we all fear is coming.

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Soft_Walrus_3605@reddit

I believe it's possible that those interdictions weren't at his behest. Hegseth is running the DoD like his own private army. I could totally see him finding a willing one-star general willing to blow up anything they want.

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Malcolm_Morin@reddit

And now he will be replaced with someone without it.

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Final-Tumbleweed1335@reddit

It’s a good thing. That disastrous meeting with all the generals was the beginning of the end.

Do the right thing and it will work out for you. God is truth. He’s doing everything.

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Malcolm_Morin@reddit

The beginning of the end would've been every single general and official in that room arresting Hegseth on the spot, then arresting every last member of Trump's government within the hour.

If they weren't supporting this in silence, they wouldn't be approving measures to bomb random boats in international waters and prepping to invade Venezuela.

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stallion8151@reddit

Yep. On the grounds they are agents of an enemy state.

Yes it would be a military coup technically, however I don't think the generals would have any desire except to hand everything over to civilians as fast as fucking possible.

But foreign agents have occupied and commandeered the administration, supreme Court, and congress.

I suppose the only way that happens is the mid-terms have such a blue wave and Johnson refuses to seat them, and that being the catalyst for treason charges and a judge to issue arrest warrants which the Court could theoretically deputize the military to carry out given the circumstances.

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Final-Tumbleweed1335@reddit

The first takes planning. Undoubtedly they do not want to bomb those boats.

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Far-Pen1590@reddit

And that one will be a fascist.

And LatAm will be turned to fascism.

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atlprincess2412@reddit

Will people in the military be willing to fight for this stuff?

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obsequious_fink@reddit

Seeing as shooting all those suspected drug running boats happened under his watch already, it kind of makes you wonder what they asked him to do that caused him to resign...

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PilgrimOz@reddit

‘I am not going to war against anyone in South America who has shot at the US first’ maybe?

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echoshatter@reddit

I.E. "I won't be responsible for starting a war without Congressional approval. You know, the Constitution and all."

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Alternative-Emu4846@reddit

Hasn't been a problem for most generals in the past 75 years

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echoshatter@reddit

Nice change of pace then.

Unfortunately, these kinds of "leaders" would rather resign than stand up and make a stink about it.

They should have gone to Congress and made it public. "The White House is ordering us to murder people in international waters to start a war."

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ryanidsteel@reddit

Maybe he was forced to resign because they didn't kill everyone on the last boat. Maybe, he refused to allow a second pass like they did with the first boat.

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ytman@reddit

There are survivors?

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woollinthorpe@reddit

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-carries-out-new-strike-caribbean-there-are-survivors-us-official-says-2025-10-16

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ytman@reddit

I hope survivors are not in us custody.

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hsl37-det10@reddit

They were picked up by a Navy helo.

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ytman@reddit

Oh shit. Well now I guess they'll be dissapeared if it turns out they were just fishermen.

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Sanshonte@reddit

That's the word

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No-Serve-9134@reddit

Gawdamn

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Effective-Ebb-2805@reddit

I think he caught wind of the plans to invade Venezuela. He obviously didn't like them. Who, in their right mind, would?

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carlitospig@reddit

Yep, it he was asked to drum up some sort of false flag and he was like ‘we don’t do that here’.

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Effective-Ebb-2805@reddit

The fact is that, unfortunately, we do indeed do that shit here... but HE obviously doesn't.

I've got a bad feeling about this...It wouldn't surprise me if Trump and his sycophantic butt-monkeys went the time-honored war route to draw attention away from the chaos and incompetence of his amateur administration... Although, I'd be lying if I said that I wouldn't get a kick out of watching the anti-war movement protests explode into something that made the 60's seem like a polite "disagreement".

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carlitospig@reddit

Excuuuuuse you, but drumming up random hostilities is the CIAs job. The military just cleans up the mess. 😉

And yah, I’m totally down with flower power coming back. We already have bell bottoms in stores! 🕺🏼

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Effective-Ebb-2805@reddit

Well... the military first makes the mess and then "cleans " it up by raizing everything to the ground...

I get the distinct feeling that there won't be many flowers this time around... The "peace movement" will not be peaceful. There's already too much anger and frustration for that. The 60's peace movement grew slowly throughout the war, as people awakened to the mess. People now are wide awake... and straining against their desire to fight. There are no illusions to be demolished about the nature of the imperial monster. We know it all too well, and no one thinks that all we have to do is "make them understand"...

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obsequious_fink@reddit

That is what I was thinking

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Acceptable_Lake_4253@reddit

My guess would be the Venezuela invasion that is obviously planned sometime within the next three years. I’d also be willing to guess some sort of false flag to but fire in the veins of young Americans to boost enlistment rates. After all, Venezuela has the most oil in the world now…

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JustSatisfactory@reddit

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/7/venezuelas-maduro-says-us-embassy-false-flag-bombing-foiled-in-caracas

They need time to plan another one

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LDawnBurges@reddit

This part ⬆️

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MountainMapleMI@reddit

CCR Beat…

“Run through the jungle! You gonna run through the jungle! Barron’s got booohn spurs!”

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Upstairs-Parsley3151@reddit

Probably because he's Black, and tbat's not a joke.

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lukaskywalker@reddit

Yep he probably has stopped a lot more crazy stuff from happening. Well now they can hire Connor McGregor to do his job and all will be fine …

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Slumunistmanifisto@reddit

I would do anything for love.....but I won't do that 🎶🎸

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BmacSOS@reddit

So they are just going to keep stripping away the checks balances and protections against a dictatorship by firing anyone that is not loyal enough to break the law.

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Dax420@reddit

Ordered to do something so terrible he would rather quit. Not a good sign.

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ithkuil@reddit

I'm not sure that's as certain as everyone assumes. Wars are strategic and the reasons given almost all bullshit. Military leaders know this. I'm guessing it's because Hegseth made his racial hatred and personal Na z 1 disdain for him too obvious and it was clear they wanted him gone.

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Taste_the__Rainbow@reddit

Or he’s just black. This administration doesn’t need an excuse when the person is a minority.

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Immortal-one@reddit

But now orange Jesus gets to replace him with someone who would do that terrible thing.

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Biotic101@reddit

That's the real issue. Free and fair elections are likely already gone. They will likely use the military next year and it will be ugly.

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oscarink@reddit

Probably cuz hes tired of bombing fishermen.

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DaveWoodstock@reddit

I stand with admiral Holsey. Thank you for your service.

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hsl37-det10@reddit

Bravo Zulu, Admiral. May you have fair winds and following seas.

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Ok-Fill-6758@reddit

Look how tough we are! We bomb fishing motorboats 😂

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Winged_Mr_Hotdog@reddit

Yay war crimes!

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DissolveToFade@reddit

Is it a surprise?

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sherwood_bosco@reddit

Admiral Holsey might not have been the best person in the world, but he was at the very least strong in his convictions. It's a bit concerning that after everything that's happened under his watch he retires now.

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SalukiC@reddit

I think the president heard “Holsey” and thought William Halsey was still running things.

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AnomalyNexus@reddit

RIP

Another country finds out US is keen on delivering "freedom" to an oil soaked corner of the world

Jungle theme this time after desert maps got old

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