With the rise of Hugo Chávez and other presidents around the turn of the century, a new breed of leftist leaders challenged the postwar political and economic rules promoted by the United States. Many Latin American left-leaning governments openly used the language of dependency theory to depict their strategy. Joining together within both economic and political institutions that excluded the United States, they hoped that they could break the stranglehold of international capitalism and imperial designs. Strategies along these lines include trade agreements, the creation of international institutions, discussions of common currencies, and mutual aid. The ultimate goal of these various efforts is to establish political and economic autonomy from the United States. That would mean being freed from political interference, economic pressure, violations of sovereignty, or any other type of imposition from the hegemonic power. This chapter takes stock of the Latin American left’s ability to chart a course distinct from that preferred by the United States in the twenty-first century.

Chapter 4 looks at how Latin America has experienced both the negative effects of the international investment law system and tensions when trying to protect Indigenous peoples’ rights while simultaneously trying to attract foreign investment. Enrique Prieto-Ríos and Daniel Rivas-Ramírez present some prominent investment arbitration cases involving Latin American countries and the rights of Indigenous peoples. They conclude that Indigenous peoples in Latin America are invisible to investment arbitration tribunals because international investment arbitration is a self-contained system that does not look beyond international economic law to Indigenous rights or, more generally, human rights. Current negotiations among Canada, New Zealand and the Pacific Alliance offer an opportunity to consider including a chapter for Indigenous people. The addition of New Zealand and Canada as associate members means that they will have to address the rights of Indigenous peoples in some manner for domestic political reasons.