Venezuelan government officials backed by National Guard troops seized control of cement plants owned by Mexico's Cemex SAB after failing to reach a deal on terms for nationalizing them.

As a deadline for talks expired at the stroke of midnight Aug. 18, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez raised a fist in the air while flag-waving workers cheered at a Cemex plant.

"We're taking over operations," said Ramirez at the plant in the eastern state of Anzoategui. "With Cemex lamentably we couldn't reach an agreement."

President Hugo Chavez earlier called the nationalization of cement companies one of many "steps toward socialism," following nationalizations of telecommunications and electricity companies, the country's largest steel maker and major oil projects.