Cape Verde only war for independence against Portugal between 1974 and 1975, the efforts of the Caboverdean Armed Forces have now been turned to combating international drug trafficking. In 2007, together with the Cape Verdean Police, they carried out Operation Flying Launch ("Operacão Lancha Voador"a), a successful operation to put an end to a drug trafficking group which smuggled cocaine from Colombia to the Netherlands and Germany using the country as a reorder point. The operation took more than three years, being a secret operation during the first two years, and ended in 2010. Although located in Africa, Cape Verde has always
African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde 21 August 2011, Manuel Inocêncio Sousa lost to Jorge Carlos Fonseca (MpD) with 32.66% of the votes in the first round and 45.74% in the second round. The PAICV, which advertises itself as an Africa-oriented political party in contrast to the somewhat neoliberal and europhile MpD, enjoys its greatest support in the municipalities most comparable to those on the African mainland: the dense urban areas such as Praia, and rural agricultural areas such as Santa Cruz and São Filipe. The party is a full member of the Socialist International. African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde The African Party