On 20 December 2022, US corporation Honduras Próspera Inc. announced a $10.7 billion legal claim against the Honduran government through the World Bank’s International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).


Próspera’s investors want to be compensated by the Honduran people for their democratic decision to overturn a 2013 law enabling the creation of special economic zones known as ‘ZEDEs’. Sold to foreign investors as a crypto-libertarian paradise, these zones were granted unprecedented legal and financial autonomy from national government policies.


Próspera’s $10.7 billion claim is unpayable. It amounts to two-thirds of Honduras’s planned budget for 2023. And nor should it be paid. ICSID and so-called international arbitration courts like it are venues for corporations to force money out of states as compensation for public policies that advance the welfare of consumers, workers or the environment.

In February 2024, Honduran President Xiomara Castro asserted Honduran democracy and sovereignty by withdrawing from ICSID.

The Progressive International celebrates Honduras's historic decision.

In 2023, the Progressive International convened a high profile delegation to Honduras to hear directly from the communities affected by the ZEDEs, to draw international attention to the crime of corporate colonialism, and to support the government of President Xiomara Castro to defeat it.

Now, we are coordinating technical and political support for the people of Honduras to defeat the ZEDEs from top experts.


On 19 March 2024, 85 leading economists backed Honduras’ decision to quit ICSID, including Jayati Ghosh, Jeffrey Sachs, Gabriel Palma, Yanis Varoufakis, Ann Pettifor and Ha-Joon Chang.


✍🏽 Read their open letter.

Pledge your support.

Delegates

José Miguel Ahumada

Former Undersecretary of International Economic Relations of Chile

Efraín Guadarrama Pérez

General Director of American Regional Organizations and Mechanisms, SRE of Mexico

Maria Fernanda Carrascal Rojas

Representative of the Republic of Colombia

Jorge Coronado

Latin America and the Caribbean Better Without FTA/Latindadd

Esteban Silva

Coordinator, Latin America and the Caribbean Better Without FTAs

Andrés Arauz

Economist, Former Minister of Knowledge and Talent and Former Director of the Central Bank of Ecuador.

Matias Capeluto

Director, Casa Patria Grande, Argentina

Baltasar Garzón

International Lawyer; Former Magistrate

Giorgio Jackson

Former Minister Secretary General of the Presidency of Chile; Former Minister of Social Development

Guillaume Long

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador; Senior Policy Analyst, CEPR

Alexander John Main

Director of International Policy, CEPR

Gabriela Rosazza

International Programs Assistant, CEPR

Ladan Mehranvar

Senior Legal Researcher, Columbia Center for Sustainable Investment

Maria Luisa Ortega Salvador

Project Manager, Polylat

Christian Pino Garrido

Former Secretary General of CAITISA

Luisa Connor

Chairman of Crawfish Rock Municipal Board

Stephanie Izamar Camarillo

Research Director, Global Trade Watch (Public Citizen)

Melinda Joyce St. Louis

Director de Global Trade Watch ( Public Citizen)

Sebastian Valdomir

MP

Ronalth Ochaeta

MP

Matt Kirkegaard

Political Coordinator of the Progressive International

Varsha Gandikota

General Coordinator of the Progressive International

David Adler

General Coordinator of the Progressive International