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
Administrative divisions of Cape Verde Administrative divisions of Cape Verde The territory of Cape Verde is divided into 22 concelhos (municipalities), and subdivided into 32 freguesias (equivalent to civil parish). In Portuguese language usage, there are two words to distinguish the territory and the administrative organ. Administratively, right below the government, there are the municípios (municipalities), who administrate the "concelhos". Therefore, the "concelhos" are the first-level administrative subdivision in Cape Verde. Each municipality has an "Assembleia Municipal" (municipal assembly, the legislative body) and a "Câmara Municipal" (municipal chamber, the executive body). Every four years elections are held for the Assembleia Municipal, the Câmara Municipal and