Latin America

Latin American and Caribbean countries have signed almost 700 investment agreements. They have been targeted in almost 300 investor-state disputes.

Argentina has faced almost 62 ISDS cases, about 6% of all cases, making it the world’s most targeted state. Venezuela and Mexico have been among the ten most frequent respondents in the world, with 51 and 33 cases, respectively.

Many key cases such as Renco vs. Peru, Chevron vs. Ecuador or Pac Rim vs. El Salvador have originated in significant environmental damages caused by corporations. Philip Morris took an ISDS case against Uruguay over its anti-tobacco law.

Chile, Mexico and Peru are also party to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with eight other Pacific Rim states. The TPP includes an investor-state dispute mechanism that undermines public-interest ‘safeguards’.

The most well-known cases ISDS cases in the region include:

Chevron (US) vs. Ecuador: For 26 years, Texaco, later acquired by Chevron, performed oil operations in Ecuador. Ecuadorian courts found that during that period the company dumped billions of gallons of toxic water and dug hundreds of open-air oil sludge pits in Ecuador’s Amazon, poisoning the communities of some 30,000 Amazon residents. After a legal battle spanning two decades, in November 2013, Ecuador’s highest court ordered the corporation to pay $9.5 billion to provide desperately needed clean-up and health care to afflicted indigenous communities. Chevron challenged the decisions produced by Ecuador’s domestic legal system before an ISDS tribunal. In 2018, the arbitration tribunal held that the $9.5 billion judgment was fraudulent, violated international public policy and should not be recognised or enforced by the courts of other States. The amount of the award has not been established yet. (Ecuador-United States BIT invoked)

Occidental Petroleum Corporation “Oxy” (US) vs. Ecuador: in 2012 Ecuador was ordered to pay US$1.77 billion to the investor, an oil exploration and production company, for breach of contract. Sentence was reduced to US$1 billion in November 2015 (Ecuador-United States BIT invoked).

Investors vs. Argentina: When Argentina froze its utility rates in response to its 2001-2002 financial crisis, it was hit by over 40 lawsuits from investors, including Suez & Vivendi (France), Sociedad General de Aguas de Barcelona S.A (Spain) and Anglian Water (UK). The ISDS tribunal concluded that Argentina had breached the investors’ right to fair and equitable treatment. By 2014, the country had been ordered to pay a total of US$980 million (various BITs invoked).

Photo: Sairen42 / CC BY-SA 3.0

(April 2020)

La Razón | 6-Nov-2023
Son cinco en materia de inversión y cinco comerciales. Para atenderlos, el Estado contrató 10 bufetes de abogados internacionales y otros son atendidos en el país.
La Estrella | 6-Nov-2023
[...] ya sea, por medio de una nueva ley que derogue la Ley 406 o una sentencia de inconstitucionalidad [...], de igual manera, a la empresa le asiste el derecho para demandar al Estado de Panamá.
La Jornada | 6-Nov-2023
Biden no hizo caso a llamados desde el Congreso y de organizaciones sociales y civiles de EU para desmontar el neoliberal sistema de arbitraje supranacional, que paradójicamente permite a inversionistas extranjeros demandar a estados, cuando éstos intentan regular para que se cumplan precisamente esos criterios
Alliance Sud | 2-Nov-2023
Alliance Sud a participé à une mission internationale de 17 membres d’ONG qui dénoncent les accords de protection des investissements, y compris celui conclu avec la Suisse. Reportage sur la Colombie et ses géants miniers.
Jacobin | 31-Oct-2023
The investor-state dispute settlement is a system that empowers foreign investors to sue a sovereign government. It was instituted in the 1960s against the votes of most Latin American countries — and continues to wreak havoc today.
ch-aviation | 31-Oct-2023
The Paris Appeal Court has found in favour of Air Canada in its long-standing dispute with Venezuela over the payment of about USD21 million in compensation for airline ticket revenues withheld by the South American country.
Corporate Knights | 30-Oct-2023
First Quantum notified the government of its intent to initiate arbitration under the Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement in 2022, during the contract’s negotiation process.
Rethink Trade | 30-Oct-2023
The Investor-State Dispute Settlement regime to date has generated $47 billion in pending corporate demands for taxpayer compensation in claims against the 12 APEP nations’ climate, health, and other public-interest policies.
CIAR Global | 17-Oct-2023
En este último ejercicio CIADI ha registrado 45 nuevos casos, cinco menos que el registro anterior. Los casos registrados muestran como Honduras, México y Perú han sido los países más demandados.
The Gleaner | 9-Oct-2023
Jamaican business mogul Michael Lee-Chin has been awarded more than US$43 million in an investment dispute with the Dominican Republic.