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)

Inequality | 13-May-2019
In more than two-thirds of the mining-related lawsuits against governments in the region, communities have actively organizing against the mining activities.
Barbados Today | 6-May-2019
Caribbean States and investors are not only participating, but being harmed by the ills and abuses of the current system of ISDS.
Mining Watch | 2-May-2019
We analyzed 38 multi-million dollar claims brought by the mining industry using ISDS and other investment protection laws; in over half, communities are fighting to protect Indigenous territory, water, and more.
CIAR Global | 26-Apr-2019
El empresario español Alejandro Díaz Gaspar ha presentado una demanda de arbitraje por 100 millones de dólares contra Costa Rica ante el Centro Internacional de Arreglo de Diferencias relativas a Inversiones (CIADI) vinculada al sector alimentario.
Descifrado | 26-Apr-2019
El registro del caso en el sitio web del Ciadi señala que el 18 de abril la República Bolivariana de Venezuela introdujo el requerimiento, a través de los bufetes Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle y De Jesús & De Jesús, los mismos que vienen representando al país en ese caso
Cinco Días | 26-Apr-2019
El país austral pagará 220 millones al grupo francés, de los cuales en torno a 80 son para Aguas de Barcelona
Le Figaro | 26-Apr-2019
Le groupe de gestion de l’eau et des déchets Suez a annoncé avoir touché une indemnité de l’Argentine pour la résiliation d’un contrat décidée par le gouvernement argentin en 2006, en application d’une décision arbitrale.
Buenos Aires Times | 26-Apr-2019
French water and waste management company receives compensation from the government, settling one of its legal disputes with country dating back to Néstor Kirchner’s presidency.
YubaNet | 25-Apr-2019
The company filed the suit in December 2018 for alleged violations of the Central America–Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).
La Republica | 23-Apr-2019
El Estado y la empresa están en fase de conciliación, si no llegan a un acuerdo, se irá al arbitraje internacional. Proyecto de hidroeléctrica, en la laguna Mamacocha quedó trunco.