Letter to the Government of Colombia and President Gustavo Petro Urrego

Bogotá, April 27, 2026

To the Government of Colombia and President Gustavo Petro Urrego:

The below signed Latin American grassroots environmental organizations and international allies gathered in Bogotá, Colombia from April 21 to 22, 2026 where we shared experiences regarding the serious threats posed by claims that transnational corporations have filed with supranational arbitration tribunals, such as the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The investor protection system undermines and threatens protections for human rights, nature, and state sovereignty through rulings over water, the environment and affected territories, as well as public finances that could better serve through public investment to improve peoples’ quality of life. As a result, the government is obligated under the constitution to withdraw from these international agreements, which threaten territories such as Santurbán, which encompasses high altitude wetlands known as páramo, as well as forests and rivers that make up a regional water source and essential carbon sink for climate regulation in the Andean and Amazonian regions of Colombia.

Furthermore, in the “First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels” taking place in Santa Marta, Colombia and an existential crisis over the climate and public finance, a “just energy transition” cannot entail expansion in the energy sector to further greedy profiteering at the expense of the destruction of communities and the environment. Rather, we believe it is necessary to move toward a post-extractivist transition, and urge that the following steps be taken:

1. Terminate the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and Colombia in order to dismantle the investment protection system that directly threatens water sources and Santurbán. [1]
2. Denounce existing Free Trade Agreements and Bilateral Investment Agreements, and refrain from signing new treaties and international agreements that include the investor protection system. In this regard, we urge Latin American governments to develop a regional response to these threats.
3. Establish an audit commission with popular and civil society participation to evaluate the impacts that treaties and investment protection agreements have had on protections for human rights and the environment, as well as their impact on the public purse.
4. Completely eliminate foreign direct investment in extractivist activities, including critical and strategic minerals, agribusiness and the green economy, and reorient the economy toward sovereignty and the protection of life, the commons and environmental justice.
5. Prioritize compliance with regulations and court rulings that guarantee human rights and the protection of Nature, over international arbitration awards that promote the economic interests of transnational corporations.

Sincerely,

Signatory organizations:

Comité para la defensa del Agua y el Páramo de Santurbán, Colombia

ATTAC Argentina

Asamblea Argentina mejor sin TLC

Colectivo SUBVERSIÓN, Argentina

Servicio Paz y Justicia (SERPAJ), Argentina

Centro de Ecología y Pueblos Andinos (CEPA), Bolivia 

TerraJusta, Bolivia

Observatorio Latinoamericano de Conflictos Ambientales (OLCA), Chile

Quito sin Minería, Ecuador

Cabildo Popular por el Agua de Cuenca, Ecuador

El Observador Gt – Guatemala 

Protection International Mesoamérica, Guatemala 

Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña (OFRANEH), Honduras

Movimiento Ambientalista Social del Sur por la Vida (MASSVida), Honduras

Movimiento indígena Maya Peninsular, México

Asociación Adopta El Bosque Panamá – ADOPTA, Panamá

Colectivo Bayanao, Panamá

Guerreros del Mar, Donoso, Colón, Panamá

Centro de Estudios Heñoi, Paraguay

Derechos Humanos y Medio Ambiente (DHUMA) – Puno, Perú

Red Peruana por una Globalización con Equidad (RedGE), Perú

Transnational Institute (TNI)

Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) – Global Economy Program, U.S.

Resource Note

[1] Three ISDS claims have already been brought against Colombia over measures to protect the páramo ecosystem from mining activities. These include claims from Eco Oro Minerals, Galway Gold (now Montauk Metals) and Red Eagle Mining.

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Read the PDF of the full letter.