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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)

Bear Creek Mining Corporation v. Republic of Peru (ICSID Case No. ARB/14/21) – public hearing
ICSID | 15-Aug-2016
​A hearing on jurisdiction and the merits in the case will be transmitted live via internet feed from 7-14 September 2016.
Canada , ICSID , investor-state disputes | ISDS , mining , Peru
Panama Canal expansion yields boatload of legal disputes
Global Trade | 12-Aug-2016
Arbitrations will determine responsibility for Panama Canal overruns of $1.6 billion.
investor-state disputes | ISDS , Italy , Panama , Spain
US court rules for Chevron in Ecuador rainforest-damage case
LA Times | 10-Aug-2016
Ecuadorean plaintiffs cannot collect a $9-billion judgment in the US against Chevron Corp. for rainforest damage, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
Ecuador , energy , investor-state disputes | ISDS , US
Ecuador mantendrá procesos contra Chevron, pese a fallo de EEUU
Prensa Latina | 10-Aug-2016
Ecuador mantendrá acciones legales contra la petrolera Chevron en otros países, pese al fallo de un Tribunal Federal de Apelaciones de Estados Unidos a favor de la transnacional, aseguró Pablo Fajardo, abogado que representa a los afectados ecuatorianos.
Ecuador , energy , investor-state disputes | ISDS , US
Glencore begins arbitration over Bolivia assets expropriation
BNamericas | 5-Aug-2016
Swiss trader Glencore filed for arbitration against the Bolivian government for the expropriation of its mining and smelting assets, adding to a series of lawsuits against the Andean country.
Bolivia , investor-state disputes | ISDS , mining , Switzerland
Glencore inició arbitraje a Bolivia por Vinto y Colquiri
El Pais | 5-Aug-2016
Una subsidiaria de la compañía suiza Glencore presentó una Notificación de Arbitraje en contra de Bolivia, por una supuesta controversia relativa a las nacionalizaciones de las plantas de fundición de estaño y antimonio de Vinto.
Bolivia , investor-state disputes | ISDS , mining , Switzerland
Water for gold
Loading Docs | 5-Aug-2016
Water for Gold tells the alarming story of how international trade law is leading us to trade our most basic rights to clean, safe water for access to gold.
CPTPP , El Salvador , investor-state disputes | ISDS , mining , New Zealand , video , water
Peter Allard vs. Barbados: Investor argues breach of environmental laws
Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (ISDS Blog) | 4-Aug-2016
Peter Allard, a Canadian investor who owns a nature sanctuary in Barbados, has brought an ISDS claim against Barbados. He grounds his claim on the failure of the government to enforce its own environmental law.
Barbados , Canada , environment , investor-state disputes | ISDS
Who really won the legal battle between Philip Morris and Uruguay?
The Guardian | 28-Jul-2016
The tobacco giant has to pay $7m to the small South American nation in a dispute over cigarette adverts. But the case could still set a worrying precedent.
health , investor-state disputes | ISDS , Uruguay
AIDA: State needs to address the conditions in La Oroya
Peru this Week | 25-Jul-2016
“We hope that after the decision, the State will concentrated its efforts to provide a sustainable solution to the environmental pollution in the city La Oroya.”
environment , investor-state disputes | ISDS , Peru