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.

Honduras Resiste

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    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