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)

Yahoo | 18-Mar-2024
Almaden delivered to Mexico written notice of its intention to submit a claim to arbitration against Mexico under the CPTPP.
CIAR Global | 14-Mar-2024
La compañía española Fotowatio Renewable Ventures, subsidiaria de la compañía saudí Abdul Latif Jameel Energy and Environmental Services, ha presentado una demanda de arbitraje de inversiones contra México ante el Centro Internacional de Arreglo de Diferencias relativas a Inversiones (CIADI).
Cajar | 13-Mar-2024
El pasado 28 de febrero de 2024, el Estado colombiano fue notificado de la decisión adoptada por el Centro Internacional de Arreglo de Diferencias Relativas a las Inversiones (CIADI) del Banco Mundial en el caso No. ARB/18/12, el cual, le da la razón a Colombia frente a la demanda de la multinacional Red Eagle Exploration Limited
América Latina Mejor sin TLC | 13-Mar-2024
Como parte del respaldo a la salida del CIADI del país centroamericano, la Plataforma América Latina y el Caribe Mejor Sin TLC entregó su declaración de apoyo al Vicecanciller de Política Exterior Hondureño, Gerardo Torres Zelaya.
Telemetro | 13-Mar-2024
Según el MEF, Panamá gana la demanda de arbitraje internacional de inversión por 100 millones de dólares.
Trade and Investment Research Project | 12-Mar-2024
The Ecuadorian President is using the cover of internal conflict to bring investor-state dispute settlement back to Ecuador, in what a former Constitutional Court member calls a "democratic disaster."
CIAR Global | 7-Mar-2024
El 1 de marzo de 2024, el tribunal del arbitraje de inversiones de la compañía italiana Campos de Pesé contra Panamá ha desestimado la reclamación de la empresa.
CIAR Global | 5-Mar-2024
El Centro Internacional de Arreglo de Diferencias relativas a Inversiones ha comunicado la denuncia de Honduras del Convenio sobre Arreglo de Diferencias Relativas a Inversiones entre Estados y Nacionales de Otros Estados (Convenio CIADI).
IANS | 5-Mar-2024
The purported foreign investors were seeking approximately $100 million in damages claiming that the government had amended the legal framework for ethanol production in the country in breach of Panama’s international law obligations.
Canada’s National Observer | 5-Mar-2024
A proposed Canada-Ecuador free trade agreement could put corporate interests above citizens’ rights, say several concerned organizations.