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)

El Salvador | 10-Sep-2018
En el caso de Pacific Rim, la empresa demandó al Gobierno por $314 millones, pero le dijeron a El Salvador que si les daban la autorización para explotar oro y plata, ellos retiraban la demanda.
Business Wire | 7-Sep-2018
Ecuador found liable for violating international law, supporting fraud and corruption.
JDSupra | 3-Sep-2018
Latin American countries have been respondents in approximately 30 per cent of all International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) cases.
CincoDías | 29-Aug-2018
Piden compensaciones por los daños causados por la pérdida de su inversión. Estiman que España incumplió las garantías y protección fijadas del tratado bilateral de inversión entre España y México.
IFR | 28-Aug-2018
Mexican billionaire Antonio del Valle has launched actions against the Spanish government for its role in the process of putting Banco Popular into resolution and subsequent sale for €1 to Santander.
Ámbito | 27-Aug-2018
El grupo chileno impulsa proyecto inmobiliario por U$S 600 millones. El conflicto es por un terreno público en San Isidro que la empresa compró en 1996 por u$s22 millones y que el Estado pretende recuperar sin pagar.
Chile Mejor sin TLC | 22-Aug-2018
6 razones por las cuales hay que rechazar la ratificación del Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC) entre Argentina y Chile.
CIAR Global | 22-Aug-2018
Pdvsa acordó reconocer el laudo de CCI realizando pagos iniciales por un total de 500 millones de dólares en un período de 90 días a partir de la fecha de la firma.
ALAI | 21-Aug-2018
Actualmente se encuentra en tratamiento parlamentario en los Congresos de Chile y de Argentina el Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC) entre ambos países.
IISD | 21-Aug-2018
Debido a que los acuerdos internacionales de inversión (AIIs) fueron creados para limitar algunos aspectos del derecho a regular de los países, la primera ola de AIIs inhibió la experimentación regulatoria de los países receptores que podría perjudicar los derechos de los inversores extranjeros.