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)

Government of India | 13-Nov-2017
The Union Cabinet has given its approval for signing the Joint Interpretative Declaration between India and Colombia regarding the existing Agreement for the Promotion and Protection of Investments.
M4 | 27-Oct-2017
Pérez Rocha explicó que una medida aconsejable para los países es desvincularse del Centro Internacional de Arreglo de Diferencias relativas a Inversiones (CIADI), tal como lo han hecho Venezuela y Bolivia, ya que se trata de una entidad a la cual los países han sido forzados a adherirse como resultado de la aplicación de ajustes neoliberales
Harvard International Law Journal | 26-Oct-2017
On July 2016, a Partial Award dismissed the Renco Group Inc. v. The Republic of Peru case, indicating, however, that a new arbitration claim could be pursued against the State.
Diario U Chile | 24-Oct-2017
Sectores de izquierda y organizaciones sociales piden que no se concrete el plan porque perjudicaría a los pueblos.
CIAR Global | 24-Oct-2017
La negociación del nuevo Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC) entre Argentina y Chile parece haber llegado a su fin.
The Market Mogul | 23-Oct-2017
Noting the ad hoc nature of investment arbitration under the ICSID, it is not surprising that two tribunals adopted different interpretations
La Prensa | 19-Oct-2017
Autoridades panameñas evalúan investigar supuesta defraudación al sco, que habría revelado el demandante, en la compra de cuatro ncas en Bocas del Toro.
Kluwer Arbitration Blog | 13-Oct-2017
This first part begins with a review of the law governing entering and denouncing the ICSID Convention, as well as of an important debate on the effects of withdrawing from it.
Fundación Presidente Allende | 13-Oct-2017
Victims of human rights abuses by the Pinochet dictatorship have requested a committee of the World Bank’s International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) to annul an arbitral award.
CIAR Global | 10-Oct-2017
El arbitraje se inició ante la negativa de Cofide a brindar la financiación necesaria a la minera para continuar con la explotación del proyecto de la mina de oro Bandera Ollachea.