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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)

Chevron files motion to hold government of Ecuador accountable under international law
SR Sentinel | 22-Jan-2010
Chevron has submitted a legal motion and supporting authorities to dismiss a lawsuit that was filed by the government of Ecuador in an attempt to block a Chevron arbitration claim made under international treaty la
Ecuador , investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS , US
Ecuadorians want Chevron held to account
Courthouse News | 19-Jan-2010
Now, Texaco is asking a panel of United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, which works in cooperation with the World Trade Organization, to release it from environmental liability, the communities say.
Ecuador , investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS , US
Spanish firms launch ICSID dispute against Mexico over stalled toxic waste disposal project
ITN | 13-Jan-2010
Spanish firms Abengoa, S.A. and COFIDES, S.A. have launched a claim with ICSID against Mexico over the stalled opening of a toxic waste disposal plant built by them in the municipality of Zimapán, approximately 200 kilometres north of Mexico City.
environment , investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS , Mexico , Spain
Ecuador seeks to block Chevron
WSJ | 7-Dec-2009
The government of Ecuador asked a US court on Friday to intervene in its long-running environmental battle with oil giant Chevron Corp.
Ecuador , investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS , US
German investor launches ICSID case against Costa Rica over alleged expropriation of land near endangered turtle habitat
ITN | 7-Dec-2009
German investor Reinhard Unglaube, a resident of Costa Rica, has commenced arbitration against his host country over the latter’s refusal to grant the appropriate permits to extend his eco-tourist hotel complex in Playa Grande, Costa Rica.
Costa Rica , environment , Germany , investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS
Quiborax claim against Bolivia continues; may provide first decision on effects of ICSID exit
ITN | 5-Nov-2009
Chilean Química e Industrial del Bórax Ltd. (“Quiborax”) will continue with its claim against Bolivia at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Dispute (“ICSID”), despite reports of a settlement agreement and Bolivia’s renunciation of the ICSID convention. The case will likely shed the first light as to the effects of renouncing the ICSID Convention, a controversial topic over which no tribunal has yet to rule.
Bolivia , Chile , ICSID , investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS
Ecuador prepares for new hearings in Occidental case
Dow Jones Newswires | 31-Oct-2009
Occidental is seeking $3.2 billion in damages for Ecuador’s May 2006 decision to cancel the company’s operating contract
Ecuador , investor-state disputes | ISDS , US
Claim by Cargill leads to another loss for Mexico
IISD | 9-Oct-2009
Mexico has suffered another loss in a series of investor-state arbitral disputes involving its sugar industry.
agriculture | farmers | food , investor-state disputes | ISDS , Mexico , NAFTA | USMCA , US
Ad Hoc Committee confirms Argentina is on the hook to Azurix for US$165 Million
IISD | 6-Oct-2009
Marking a final setback for Argentina in its protracted dispute with US-based water services firm Azurix Corp, on 1 September 2009 an ad hoc committee denied Argentina’s application to annul an ICSID tribunal’s previous decision awarding Azurix approximately US$165 Million for breach of Argentina’s obligations under the US-Argentina Bilateral Investment Treaty.
Argentina , corporate interests , ICSID , investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS , water
Ecuador criticizes Chevron arbitration claim
Reuters | 25-Sep-2009
Ecuador accused Chevron Corp on Thursday of filing an international arbitration claim against the country in an attempt to shield itself against losing a $27 billion environmental damage lawsuit.
Ecuador , investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS , US