Bolivia nationalizes Spanish-owned electrical utilities

Bolivian President Evo Morales announced Saturday the nationalization of electrical utilities owned by the Spanish company Iberdrola.

Morales announced a decree targetting Iberdrola-owned utilities in the cities of La Paz and Oruro.

It was the latest in a series of such seizures by the outspoken leftist who is a key member of a group of populist South American presidents led by the now-ailing Hugo Chavez of Venezuela

Back in May Morales nationalized a subsidiary of another Spanish power group, Red Electrica Corporacion.

Since coming to power in January 2006, Bolivia’s first president representing the country’s indigenous majority has nationalized the country’s oil wealth and smelters, in addition to electric power companies.