AND
President López Obrador What response will you give to the warning that the court
of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) of the World Bank, to refrain from making public attacks
to the American mining company Vulcan Materials, which has sued Mexico for at least 500 million dollars (https://bit.ly/3DOVSxe and The Day 2/22/14)?
In my previous article I wrote that the actions before free trade agreements by the new progressive governments in Latin America will be indicators of compliance with their campaign proposals. In Chile there is already discouragement. As the socialist senator Alfonso Urresti said, it is weird
that President Boric has given such a brutal position lap
with respect to the Trans-Pacific Treaty (TPP-11), which now seeks to be ratified. Urresti says that with the TPP-11 Chile cedes powers, cedes sovereignty in terms of conflict resolution and that is extremely serious
(https://bit.ly/3Snu736). As is the myopia of the 4T by continuing to endorse the T-MEC, the modernization
of the FTA with the European Union and the TPP itself, when these treaties serve so that we are sued from the courts
more exclusive and biased in favor of private interests.
As has happened in Mexico from the negotiation of NAFTA to the T-MEC, now Boric ignores the 159 social and civil organizations of all kinds grouped in the collective Chile Mejor sin TLC that signed the call Guarantees for the Peoples and not for Extractivist Investment
which answers to the presidential announcements that aim to follow in the footsteps of Piñera and Bachelet regarding free trade agreements, now regarding the TPP-11 and the Association Treaty with the European Union
. The call asserts that it is not possible to ensure investment guarantees, without guarantees for the full exercise of the economic and social rights of our peoples, many of whom are violated by these treaties
(https://bit.ly/3R77df3). AMLO and Boric promote free trade and investment agreements that go completely against their own aspirations to mitigate inequality and environmental crises caused by the predatory capitalist model. The declaration of Chilean organizations says that now the mirage is to solve the needs of the global north in terms of electromobility
and that Boric is forgetting that when he was a deputy, he was part of the large group of parliamentarians who voted against the TPP-11
.
The collusion of left-wing parties with the right and business sectors around the free trade
is not new; it comes from socialist parties in Europe. But communities and social organizations continue to resist. In Colombia, national and international organizations have requested through a amicus curiae to the Constitutional Court to stand firm in its decision to suspend the expansion of the El Cerrejón coal mine, the largest in Latin America, in favor of the human rights of the Wayúu indigenous communities.
In response, the mining giants Glencore and Anglo American filed supranational arbitration claims against Colombia in 2021 under bilateral investment treaties with Switzerland and the United Kingdom, respectively, resorting to the investor-State dispute settlement mechanism (ISDS). English). In early 2022, before Petro came to power, the Colombian government issued a report favorable to the expansion of the mine – which was denounced by Colombian organizations (https://bit.ly/3Sk8hgO)– which would indicate that the lawsuits could be having the dissuasive effect desired by the mining companies.
In a press release (http://bit.ly/3TL6aE7) Misael Socarras, a member of the Wayúu community, demands respect for their territory and their right to life, water, food security and sovereignty, and that multinational companies they are not from here so that they try to go over our decisions and those of the Constitutional Court
. Aldo Orellana, from the Terra Justa organization, expresses that As we evidenced in our brief presented to the Constitutional Court, extractive companies bring supranational arbitration claims not only to seek billions of dollars in compensation, but also to pressure State institutions and exercise control over nature and people. especially in the global south
. And Jen Moore of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) says that The investor-State dispute resolution mechanism, incorporated in almost 3,000 international investment agreements around the world, is exclusive to foreign companies. Glencore should desist from its lawsuit and respect the decision of the Constitutional Court to protect the Bruno stream and the rights of the Wayúu people
.
The claims against Mexico and Colombia, totaling billions of dollars, are part of the growing avalanche of lawsuits by extractive companies under free trade and investment protection agreements against states that seek to defend economic, social, cultural and environmental rights. . From Canada and Alaska to Patagonia, the mining fever will increase with the energy transition
and it will be the peoples and communities that pay with their livelihoods and natural resources. Companies such as Vulcan Materials, Glencore and AngloAmerican have the ICSID and other courts as a weapon and support, before which AMLO, Petro and Boric must form a front to defend our sovereignty, which could be extended to all of Latin America through Celac .
*Researcher at the Institute for Policy Studies www.ips-dc.org
Twitter: @ManuelPerezIPS
