Resistencia al aumento del poder de las transnacionales en América Latina y el Caribe

The report examines the expansion of transnational corporations (TNCs) in Latin America and the Caribbean, specifically within the agro-industrial and energy sectors. It argues that neoliberal state reforms, free trade agreements, and investment treaties since the 1990s have facilitated the concentration of power, leading to the displacement of small-scale farmers, environmental degradation, and systemic violence. The document highlights a gendered dimension to these impacts, noting that women face severe restrictions on land ownership and increased vulnerability to violence. It concludes by proposing strategies for resistance, including the promotion of food sovereignty, agroecology, and the pursuit of a legally binding UN treaty to end corporate impunity.

• Neoliberal regulatory frameworks in the region were often imposed through undemocratic processes that excluded social participation and criminalized social movements, disproportionately affecting peasants, Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendants, and women.
• Transnational corporations (TNCs) use political lobbying and pressure to influence neoliberal governments to expand agricultural frontiers, promote monocultures, and implement destructive energy megaprojects.
• In Costa Rica, the shift toward an agro-export model based on monocultures has led to significant environmental damage, including the invasion of 16,324 hectares of wetlands and 3,824 hectares of protected areas by pineapple plantations.
• Costa Rica recorded the highest global rate of pesticide imports in 2010, consuming 24.56 kilograms of active ingredient per hectare per year.
• In Argentina, the use of agrotóxicos increased from 300,000 tons annually in 1990 to 4.6 million tons in 2019, with an estimated 14 million people exposed to fumigations.
• The government of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil implemented policies of deregulation and anti-environmentalism, including the refusal to demarcate new indigenous lands and the dismantling of civil society participation bodies like the National Environment Council (CONAMA).
• In El Salvador, the expansion of sugarcane monocultures has displaced basic grain production and degraded mangrove ecosystems, such as in the Bay of Jiquilisco.
• Women in the region face systemic inequalities in land tenure; for example, only 8% of agricultural land in Costa Rica and 10.3% in El Salvador (as of 2018) is owned by women.
• Women in rural areas experience a 'triple burden' of productive work, unpaid domestic care, and community participation, while facing higher risks of sexual violence and health issues due to corporate pollution.
• The report advocates for a legally binding UN treaty to end the impunity of transnational corporations and ensure justice for affected communities.
• Agroecology and food sovereignty are proposed as the primary alternatives to the corporate agrobusiness model to ensure healthy food access and the realization of peasant rights.

APA

Friends of the Earth International (2021). Resistencia al aumento del poder de las transnacionales en América Latina y el Caribe. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Resistencia-al-aumento-del-poder-de-las-transnacionales-en-América-Latina-y-el-Caribe.pdf

Chicago

Friends of the Earth International. Resistencia al aumento del poder de las transnacionales en América Latina y el Caribe. 2021. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Resistencia-al-aumento-del-poder-de-las-transnacionales-en-América-Latina-y-el-Caribe.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Friends of the Earth International |title=Resistencia al aumento del poder de las transnacionales en América Latina y el Caribe |date=December 2021 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Resistencia-al-aumento-del-poder-de-las-transnacionales-en-América-Latina-y-el-Caribe.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{friendsoftheearthinternational2021resistencia, author = {{Friends of the Earth International}}, title = {{Resistencia al aumento del poder de las transnacionales en América Latina y el Caribe}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2021}, month = dec, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Resistencia-al-aumento-del-poder-de-las-transnacionales-en-América-Latina-y-el-Caribe.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }