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)

Contacto Hoy | 21-Sep-2018
El Gobierno de Costa Rica fue notificado hoy por el Centro Internacional de Arreglo de Diferencias Relativas a Inversiones (Ciadi) sobre el triunfo en el caso “Las Olas”, en el cual el país buscaba proteger una zona de humedales y por el que se le exigía 103,5 millones de dólares en indemnización.
TeleSur | 21-Sep-2018
ICSID tribunal rules Costa Rica was in its right to stop a tourist construction project on the Pacific coast that violated environmental laws.
El Universo | 20-Sep-2018
El laudo del Tribunal Arbitral Internacional que falló en contra del Estado ecuatoriano, por “denegar justicia” a la empresa Chevron, no tendrá incidencia en el juicio que lleva adelante el Frente de Defensa de la Amazonía en Canadá en contra de la empresa petrolera internacional.
Observatoire des Multinationales | 17-Sep-2018
Les arbitres de la Cour permanente d’arbitrage ont sommé l’Équateur de récuser son propre système judiciaire.
El Tiempo | 14-Sep-2018
La Procuraduría General del Estado anunció las acciones legales que seguirá para intentar anular el laudo arbitral en contra del Ecuador y a favor de la petrolera estadounidense Chevron.
EJIL: Talk! | 14-Sep-2018
The task no longer lies with interpreting investment treaties alone and trying to reform investment arbitration in general – but designing an entirely cohesive system for international environmental justice that is open to the actual victims of environmental disasters and not just the States that often fail to genuinely represent them.
TeleSur | 12-Sep-2018
Victims of Chevron-Texaco’s pollution of the Ecuadorean Amazon have vowed to fight to protect the ruling which has granted them compensation.
Historia y Presente | 12-Sep-2018
Lo que a los ecuatorianos nos interesa es que en materia internacional se defienda el decoro nacional, el interés público, los derechos de los ciudadanos, contra los intereses privados y de cualquier empresa extranjera capaz de burlarse del Ecuador a través de aquellos TBI
El Periódico | 12-Sep-2018
El proyecto que inició como TCQ amenaza con ser el tercer caso que obliga al país a defenderse en el exterior. La demanda alcanzaría los US$200 millones.
BNamericas | 12-Sep-2018
Spanish construction firm Sacyr has launched arbitration proceedings claim against the Panamanian state before the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).