New data by the Transnational Institute reveal how an increase in lawsuits by foreign investors is undermining government efforts to protect natural resources and human rights in Latin America and the Caribbean. Countries in the region are facing a total of $36.6 billion in lawsuits from corporations, all through investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) claims, which often constrain governments’ ability to implement reforms due to fear of costly punishments. The data identified 419 ISDS claims against countries in the region filed as of mid-October 2025, with Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Ecuador shouldering the highest costs. Together, they face almost two-thirds of all lawsuits, with 257 claims. Between 2014 and 2024, 212 lawsuits were registered across the region, a 133% increase from previous decades. “We are talking about close to 40 billion dollars LAC [Latin American and Caribbean] states have been ordered to pay already, and there are many cases we don’t know the amount they were asked to pay, so the number is actually higher,” Bettina Müller, an associate researcher at the Transnational Institute and author of the report, told Mongabay over email. “Imagine what could have been done with 40 billion dollars in the region and specifically in the countries which have been ordered to pay the most, like Venezuela and Argentina.” ISDS is a mechanism in international trade agreements that allows foreign investors to sue states before international tribunals when they think that national laws, regulations, legal decisions or other public measures violate their treaty protections. The mechanism…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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