The Mexican government has announced the purchase of 13 power plants from Spanish giant Iberdrola for $6 billion, which President Andrés López Obrador says represents a “new nationalization” of the sector.

“Today, the Mexican government signed an agreement to buy 13 power generation plants from Iberdrola that will be part of the public heritage and will be operated by the CFE (Federal Electricity Commission); this is a new nationalization “, López Obrador pointed out on Twitter.

The operation, which was formalized by a memorandum of understanding, reaches an amount close to 6 billion dollars, indicated the Secretary of Finance, Rogelio Ramírez, during a meeting with López Obrador and the executive chairman of Iberdrola , Ignacio Sánchez Galán, in Mexico City. , according to the AFP news agency.

In this waythe CFE will increase its capacity of the total electricity produced in the country from 39% to 55%, the secretary pointed out in a video of the meeting.

It’s a ‘historic day’, the president saidwho has promoted several reforms to limit foreign participation in the electricity sector, because he considers that the companies involved in it are strategic for the security of Mexico

López Obrador succeeded in having the Supreme Court of Justice approve laws giving priority to the CFE in the production of electricityafter the failure of a more ambitious reform in Congress.

Its nationalist policy in the sector has generated controversy with the United States and Canada under the North American Trade Agreement (T-MEC) and strained diplomatic relations with Spain.

The head of state was particularly critical of Iberdrola, whom he accuses of having subordinated the CFE with the complicity of the previous governments of the two countries.

Last May, the Mexican regulator fined the company $466 million for alleged irregularities in production permits, but a judge stopped the measure.

Sanchez Galan He said the deal came two years after López Obrador urged the company to adapt its operation to the government’s nationalist policy that will end next year.

“We understood the energy policy of your government and this policy led us to seek a situation that is good for the Mexican people and that meets the interests of our shareholders.“, held.

The executive also expressed his “wish to continue collaborating with Mexico, in the direction desired by the government”, recalling that Iberdrola is the second electricity company in the world by capitalization and the first in Europe.

For its part, López Obrador has estimated that when his government ends, the state will concentrate 65% of electricity production to meet growing demand from a boom in foreign investment, which includes Tesla’s recent announcement to build a $5 billion electric car factory in the northern city of Monterrey.

With this, “we guarantee that prices to consumers will not increase, as has been the case for the past four years,” he said.