Honduras Resiste

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.