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)

Forbes Perú | 24-Dec-2024
La empresa energética española Enagás inició el arbitraje contra el Estado peruano ante el CIADI en 2017, luego de que el gobierno rescindiera el contrato para la construcción del Gasoducto Sur Peruano al consorcio del que era parte.
The Corner | 24-Dec-2024
Favourable news for Enagás, although the amount is lower than initially claimed and represents an accounting loss.
Asuntos Legales | 16-Dec-2024
A raíz de la condena en contra del Estado colombiano y a favor de Telefónica, proferida por un Tribunal Ciadi el pasado mes de noviembre, se ha planteado por el gobierno nacional la posibilidad de denunciar el Convenio de Washington de 1965, por medio del cual se creó el Centro Internacional para el Arreglo de Diferencias en materia de Inversión.
Foreign Policy in Focus | 13-Dec-2024
Honduras’s coup-era government opened the floodgates for predatory energy projects. Now that Hondurans are fighting back, the companies are trying to take them to arbitration.
CIAR Global | 9-Dec-2024
La aseguradora francesa AXA SA ha presentado una demanda de arbitraje de inversiones contra México ante el Centro Internacional de Arreglo de Diferencias relativas a Inversiones (CIADI).
CIAR Global | 9-Dec-2024
La compañía cervecera Backus (Reino Unido) ha presentado un arbitraje de inversiones contra Perú por una reclamación de impuestos durante periodos comprendidos entre 2014 y 2019, tras una decisión del Tribunal Fiscal peruano que ratifica la deuda de Backus de más de 1.600 millones de soles sobre el Impuesto Selectivo al Consumo (ISC).
CIAR Global | 9-Dec-2024
La compañía con sede en Guatemala Fibranet y su subsidiaria Cablefrecuencias enviaron una notificación de intención de recurrir a arbitraje internacional a El Salvador, a través de la firma internacional Eversheds Sutherland, respecto a sus inversiones en el sector de las telecomunicaciones.
Aviacionline | 5-Dec-2024
The Latin America Regional Aviation Holding has intensified its legal dispute with Uruguay following the country’s failure to comply with the arbitral award related to the closure of Pluna.
Kluwer Arbitration Blog | 5-Dec-2024
The dispute concerned Uruguay’s national airline Pluna, where the Claimant, a Panamanian company – Latin American Regional Aviation Holdings S. de S.R.L. acquired in 2007 a 75% stake through its subsidiary Leadgate.
Herbert Smith Freehills | 29-Nov-2024
This treaty marks a significant step in Venezuela’s recent trend of executing BITs, particularly following its withdrawal from the ICSID Convention in 2012.