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)

Los Andes | 15-Dec-2017
Tras el fallo del Ciadi del Banco Mundial, la Nación emitirá 2 bonos para resarcir a Electricité de France Internacional.
El Economista | 15-Dec-2017
El Ministerio de Finanzas emitirá dos bonos para pagar el laudo del CIADI a favor del grupo liderado por Electricité de France Internacional (EDF) contra la Argentina, por incumplimiento de contrato en la distribución de energía eléctrica en la provincia de Mendoza.
TNI | 14-Dec-2017
Impacts of investment arbitration against Latin America and the Carribbean.
Derecho Internacional Público. Costa Rica | 11-Dec-2017
En este caso, el Tribunal decidió postergar su decisión sobre jurisdicción, hasta analizar los argumentos de fondo, en virtud de la complejidad que reviste el caso.
Latin America Herald Tribune | 8-Dec-2017
Rusoro Mining Ltd. has announced that it has obtained a judgment against the Republic of Venezuela in the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario, Canada, of over US$1.3 billion.
Romandie | 7-Dec-2017
L’Equateur va verser une indemnisation de 337 millions de dollars à la compagnie pétrolière américaine Burlington, filiale de ConocoPhillips, afin de régler un litige vieux de dix ans.
La República | 6-Dec-2017
El Centro Internacional de Arreglo de Diferencias relativas a Inversiones (Ciadi) notificó hoy al país su laudo jurisdiccional en torno al caso de la mina Crucitas, que se encuentra en arbitraje internacional e involucra a un grupo inversor canadiense.
Conflictos Mineros | 6-Dec-2017
El pasado 2 de diciembre se hizo pública la resolución del tribunal arbitral que veía la demanda de la empresa canadiense Bear Creek, en contra del Estado peruano.
Diario Correo | 5-Dec-2017
El desarrollo del proyecto de plata Santa Ana, ubicado en Puno, fue detenido por un Decreto Supremo en el 2011. Tres años después, la empresa ha ganado el fallo ante el Ciadi.
Swiss Info | 5-Dec-2017
Ecuador pagará una indeminzación de USD 337 millones a la petrolera estadounidense Burlington, cuyo contrato fue dado por terminado en 2010, para zanjar un litigio de casi una década, informó este lunes la Procuraduría General ecuatoriana.