President of Bolivia, Evo Morales on Monday ordered the nationalization of a subsidiary of Abertis Airports and AENA, SABSA which serves Bolivia's three largest cities.

Morales, who made the announcement at a news conference in the city of Cochabamba, promised negotiations with SABSA, within 180 days on the amount of compensation. He also ordered the military to take control of the three airports "to safeguard the public interest" and warned that any attempt to impede the nationalization would be prosecuted.

In 1997, TBI won the concession to manage the three largest airports in the country: El Alto - La Paz, Viru Viru - Santa Cruz and J. Wilstermann - Cochabamba when they were privatized. TBI was then acquired by the Spanish group Abertis-Airports in 2005.