Siderúrgica de Orinoco C.A. "Alfredo Maneiro" (Sidor) is the biggest Venezuelan steel corporation. The company is situated in an industrial zone in Ciudad Guayana

Ciudad Guayana

Ciudad Guayana is a city in Bolívar State, Venezuela. It lies south of the Orinoco, where the river is joined by the Caroní River. The city, officially founded in 1961, is actually composed of the old town of San Félix at the east and the new town of Puerto Ordaz at the west, which lie either...

, Bolívar State, near the Orinoco River. Major iron deposits were found in the area in 1926 and 1947. The plant was designed to make use of hydro-electricity from the river Caroni.

History

Founded in 1953 as a public company, it was privatised in 1997 under President Rafael Caldera

Rafael Caldera

Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodríguez was president of Venezuela from 1969 to 1974 and again from 1994 to 1999.Caldera taught sociology and law at various universities before entering politics. He was a founding member of COPEI, Venezuela's Christian Democratic party...

, with a 60% stake going to Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

's Ternium

Ternium

Ternium is a manufacturer of flat and long steel products with production centers in Argentina, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia and the United States...

.

It was renationalised in mid-2008 under Hugo Chávez

Hugo Chávez

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...

 following a series of industrial disputes over pay which had paralysed the company for over year. In early 2009 compensation of around $1.65bn was nearly agreed for the nationalisation of Ternium's 59.7% stake, with Ternium also keeping a 10% stake in the company. In May 2009 a final compensation total of $1.97bn was agreed.

According to Venezuelanalysis.com

Venezuelanalysis.com

Venezuelanalysis.com: Venezuela News, Views and Analysis is a news website, which describes its aim as being "to provide on-going news about developments in Venezuela, as well as to contextualize this news with in-depth analysis and background information...

, Bolívar

Bolívar (state)

Bolívar State , is one of the 23 states into which Venezuela is divided. The state capital city is Ciudad Bolívar. Bolívar State covers a total surface area of 238,000 km² and in June 30, 2010 had an estimated population of 1,620,359....

 governor Francisco Rangel Gómez

Francisco Rangel Gómez

Francisco Gómez is the governor of Bolívar state in Venezuela, and has been since 2004. In the Venezuelan regional elections, 2008 he won 67% of the vote, against Andrés Velásquez' 80%. He had previously been president of the Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana .-References:...

, while on the negotiation commission to resolve the dispute, "ordered the National Guard to fire on protesting Sidor workers." In April 2008 Hugo Chavez

Hugo Chávez

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...

acquiesced to the workers' demands and ordered SIDOR to be nationalised.