Venezuela will take control of the country's largest steelmaker in the second major take-over of foreign businesses in a week as President Hugo Chavez resumes his socialist drive to nationalise key industries.
Just days after Chavez announced the take-over of the cement industry, his government said on Wednesday that steelmaker Ternium Sidorwould fall back into state hands, sending the Argentine-controlled company's shares tumbling.
Chavez increased state control of swathes of the oil-rich economy in a multibillion dollar campaign last year but had spent recent months focusing on day-to-day issues like crime and trash collection after voters rejected his push for wider powers in a December referendum. Nerio Fuentes, the leader of Ternium Sidor's union, said workers were pleased with the decision, taken after months of short strikes in a drawn out labour dispute with the company.