Chavez nationalizes Venezuela arm of US bottle company

CARACAS. October 26. KAZINFORM Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered the takeover of the local unit of US glass bottle firm Owens-Illinois on Monday, part of a drive to nationalize large swathes of the food processing and distribution business; Kazinform refers to The Arab News.

Since an election last month that left the socialist leader's party with a reduced majority in parliament, he has nationalized a large fertilizer factory, a motor lubricants firm and a huge swathe of land belonging to a wealthy British family.

"Expropriate it ... a company of North American capital that has been here for years exploiting the workers, destroying the environment," he said of Owens-Illinois on a late night TV appearance a few hours after returning from a tour of friendly nations such as Russia and Iran; Kazinform cites The Arab News.

See www.arabnews.com . for full version