Against a global backdrop of intertwined crises, capital flows to Latin America and the Caribbean are linked to the struggle among the major capitalist powers for control of strategic resources and global supply chains. In this context, Latin America and the Caribbean attracted $188 billion in 2025, a 14% increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, numerous Latin American countries are facing growing pressure in the context of arbitration over disputes. From Mexico to Argentina, governments have been sued by multinational corporations at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) over environmental measures, community rights, or regulations, and are facing claims in the hundreds of millions or billions. This situation poses systemic challenges for organizations and communities in the region who are confronting extractivist investments while simultaneously defending their territories and rights within an asymmetrical legal framework.

This webinar seeks to answer questions about how the investment protection system works, its impacts, and ways to exit the system. It also offers an opportunity to understand—through the voices of Latin American civil society organizations and academia—how the investment protection system has become a mechanism of dispossession and legal blackmail against our peoples.

Speakers

• Luciana Ghiotto, Transnational Institute, Argentina
• Denia Castillo, Network of Women Human Rights Defense Lawyers (RADDH), Honduras
• Rosa Maria Mateus, “José Alvear Restrepo” Lawyers’ Collective (CAJAR), Colombia
• Pablo Iturrade, Center for Economic and Social Rights (CDES), Ecuador

Carla Poth, Professor and researcher at the National University of General Sarmiento (UNGS) & member of the Assembly “Argentina Better Off Without Free Trade Agreements”