BOLIVIA’S senate has voted to expropriate mining co-operatives that have sold out to foreign firms, national media reported on Saturday.

Chamber of Senators president Jose Alberto Gonzalez told the Cambio newspaper that the Bill does not seek criminal charges against the co-ops — as some opposition members suggested.

But he said it stipulated that entities selling their franchises to private or foreign companies would no longer be considered genuine co-operatives and their holdings would be nationalised.